


of silver skies and broken rockets

by leehwi



Category: Block B, VIXX, WINNER - Fandom
Genre: (spoiler alert) I’m adding the vixx tag now bc ensemble and.. well you’ll see, Alternate Universe - Space, Drinking, Drug Use, Dub Con scene, Gay in Space, Gen, Intense Scenes, It’s not a major character death actually, M/M, Masturbation, Minor Cult Scene, Multi, Nightmare Sequence, Sexual Content, Sexual Violence, Slow Burn, Space Pirates kind of, Space!AU, Vague Rape Scene, Violence (ish), it’s kinda just a side character but I wanted the warning up there, self-fingering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-21 20:39:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 44,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13748832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leehwi/pseuds/leehwi
Summary: A space team led by quite possibly the craziest person Seungyoon has ever met, this isn't ideal for his first assigned mission, but he's stuck with them now. Every single psychotic one of them...





	1. PART ONE

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning:  
> bullying, drugs, harassment, sexual violence

**_2293, Graduation Day_ **

It was graduation day, students lined up outside the door, uniforms tightened and pressed to a T. They looked prepared to take on an army of enemy fleets, but appearances were just that, anyone who’d ever been in their shoes - top of the line military grade boots - knew that they were far from prepared.

The sky was a rich ombre of orange and pink and as the students watched the stage bend and sway beneath the weight of the professors and generals gathered on it. The one of interest in particular, was a shorter man, with a short poorly trimmed mustache across his top lip. His uniform was the most decorated and the weight of his importance was felt across the courtyard.

“Students of KSA Outlet 2,” the man’s voice brimmed over the crowd, as he spoke into the microphone. He sniffed once, it was caught and distributed through the speakers. A few murmurs and chuckles from the younger students earned a stern look. “Welcome to graduation. You are no longer students. You are now cadets. Some of you may be entering special or officers training, some of you may be being assigned to units, some of you may already be moving to the front.

Regardless, you’re soldiers now. I thank you for the hard work you have done, and the harder work that you will do. Good luck on where you go from here. Remember, people... _ Vivet ad rem Publicam _ .” his speech ending smoothly with the motto of the KSA,  _ Live for the Republic. _ He saluted, watching the pose reflect back on him in a ripple effect across the crowd of students. With a bow, he backed his way off the stage.

Behind the security of the cloth sheet that worked as a backdrop for the stage, the man adjusted some of the signets on his uniform and turned to see a sleek woman watching him, her bright eyes framed by her violently red hair. Her lips were plump, but pursed into a thin line. She appeared disapproving.

“Still deceitful, I see, Admiral Kang,” she spoke curtly.

The older man bowed his head in greeting, remembering his manners even if she hadn’t, and he swept his tongue across his lips before speaking. “I can’t help that they’re ignorant-”

“They’re  _ young _ ,” she hissed. “There’s a difference, Admiral.”

“Miss Kim,” he sighed. “They will learn. They signed up for this program, they were not forced. How long they last out there is nothing to do with me, my job was to get them out there and I’ve done just that.”

“They’re going to die, because of your program and you all know it. So with all due respect, sir, fuck you,” and with that, she stalked out of the backstage area, leaving the Admiral to seethe at her back.

 

* * *

_ Three weeks previously _

“Jihoon,” Minho spread his limbs out across the couch he had dramatically draped himself across, the stark white of the floors left him in a glowing lighting that made his dark skin look bronze. “I’ll never graduate.”

His same-age friend, Jihoon, was poised at the tablet stand, his fingers dancing over the screen as he searched for the textbook he’d rented the previous week. “Minho-yah, of course we’ll graduate,” his voice deep sounded encouraging at first, but he quickly changed his tune. “And if you don’t, you’ll just die in space, what difference does it make?”

“Calming thoughts, eh, hyung?” Minho clicked his tongue at his friend and swung his legs off the couch. He knew where he was at in the program, he knew how far behind he’d fallen in his classes and how much physically weaker he was than everyone else. 

Jihoon was at the same level of physical capabilities that Minho was, but at least the older boy was an excellent marksman. Minho was clumsy and stumbled all over the place, he was bad at keeping time for their mission challenges and he couldn’t keep quiet for shit. He had no stealth skills and poor arms skills. He was all but useless.

“You do realize you’re speaking aloud, correct?” Jihoon scoffed at the pitiful look on Minho’s face. “You don’t need to be such a baby about it, just ask Mr. Class President for help.”

His tone was more than a little bitter and Minho’s eyes narrowed at the moniker he’d chosen to use for Jiho, it couldn’t be helped that Minho had accidentally become friends with the class president and it wasn’t his fault that Jiho wanted to help him with his homework. If Jihoon was jealous, that was Jihoon’s problem, but Minho would accept the class president’s help any day, he needed it.

The class bell rang and the two students grumbled as they shuffled down the hall towards their next class, which was one of Minho’s least favorites. Military Scientology. The entire half hour was spent listening to their professor go on and on about the tactics required to form an adequate battle formation and how if you’re spread out far, it’ll be too easy to lose someone but if you’re too close together, one bomb could “end your whole team. That’s it. End of squad. You’re all dead.”

As they settled into their seats, Minho prepared himself to not listen for the entirety of class, maybe even get a good nap in. However as soon as he sat down, he noticed Jiho sliding in next to him, a sly grin on his face. Minho couldn’t not return the smile, a tiny blush following it onto his features.

“Good evening, class,” greeted Mrs. Choi, her round glasses perched on her nose as she tapped her pointer on the desk to gain attention. There was a rumble of “good evening, Mrs. Choi,” but no one really meant it. As she started into her usual spiel of what was the science behind the military, what the real ‘foundation’ was and what were the basic requirements for a functioning military.

Minho looked as a small writing tablet slid in front of him

_ Plans after class?  _ It read.

He smirked a little and scribbled a response with the tip of his finger.

  1. _what’d you have in mind?_



The sly grin was still firm on Jiho’s face and he side eyed Minho with a tiny puff of air--it might have been a chuckle, it was hard to tell. The problem with being friends with Jiho, aside from the class president thing, which led to jealousy from others and entitlement from the man in question, was that he had such a big mind. There was so much going on in his head that it was impossible to keep up with and Minho never knew what he was thinking.

_ I got something new. Wanna hit later? _

_ sure _

Minho glanced at Jiho, who eyed him back, a silent mutual promise of secrecy was exchanged as they went back to pretending to pay attention. It wouldn’t be until later that Minho thought anything of the way Jiho’s foot had brushed his own.

 

* * *

 

After school, students were meant to attend a daily meeting of the plans for the week and then free time would be allowed, mostly for studying or going to the market. But Minho had trust in Jihoon to relay the discussed plans with him later and he allowed Jiho to tug him out of the school and out into the back grounds.

He was holding onto Minho’s sleeve and running across the gardens with the younger in tow, when they reached the edge of the synthetic woods, Jiho took a quick glance around before starting to pull him into the line of trees.

A shout distracted them.

“Woo Jiho!” the stern voice of Jiho’s older brother, Sergeant Woo Jiseok, marching towards them across the grass mats. His jaw was clenched and his eyebrows furrowed, the usual expression that he directed towards Jiho. “Where do you think you’re going? The meeting started two minutes ago.”

Jiho’s gulp was audible and visible and it made Minho himself feel nervous, he knew only a little of Jiseok and Jiho’s relationship, but what he did know of wasn’t pleasant. There was a lot of history there and he was concerned how much control over his little brother Sgt. Woo had.

“Hyung,” Jiho gulped, licking his lips. “I mean- Sgt.,” he glanced at Minho out of the corner of his eye. His gaze dropped to their hands, where he was still clutching the sleeve of the younger boy.

The hand moved away from his sleeve and Minho wondered if he felt ashamed, but it wasn’t more than a half second later that his hand moved to Minho’s ear and snatched it up. When Jiho spoke, Minho had a hard time recognizing his voice.

“This brat spoke out of turn, I didn’t want any of the professors to see, but...” he looked again at the boy in his grip, his fingers pinching his lobe, but not squeezing too hard. Minho could - and would - have slipped out if he didn’t know better. “He needs to learn his lesson.”

No one knew Sgt. Woo better than his own blood, and Minho was almost concerned as he saw the shift in the officer’s expression, going from suspicious to pleased in a sickly fashion. “Good. I see you’re using your status well...finally,” the older’s eyes grazed over Minho and he held back a shiver. “Make sure he learns it well.”

Jiho simply nodded in reply, waiting until Jiseok had turned his back and begun walking away, one last sharp glance over his shoulder, before the older boy tugged Minho into the trees. They ran further into the woods, Jiho’s hand still clutching Minho’s ear until they were deep enough in to be covered by the trees. His hand quickly fell to his side and he started walking closer to Minho, close enough for their hands to brush.

“Sorry, Mino-yah,” he whispered, his accent made Minho’s name sound lazy in his mouth.

“It’s okay,” the boy grumbled, unadmittedly endeared by the way his name was said.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he bargained, but the grunt in reply was all he was given as they pushed their way through the synthetic brush.

When they finally found a clearing, they settled onto the ground, not caring if their pants got dirty. Jiho withdrew a small bag from his pockets, as well as a few small papers and a lighter. He set them on the ground in front of them and his eyes moved up to meet Minho’s.

It didn’t take them long to both have a joint secured between their lips, dirt smeared on the thighs of Jiho’s pants where he had wiped his hands after tucking the supplies back into his pockets.

“Y’know, Mino,” he rumbled around the joint in his mouth. “Ever since I first saw you, I always thought one thing.”

The smoke that poured from his lips was almost mesmerizing and as Minho tried not to let the burning in his eyes lead to tears, he swallowed and asked. “What’s that?”

“ _ He really just needs a hit _ ,” the older coughed and laughed with a wheeze, before wiping his nose on the back of his hand. “And here you are, doing exactly that. It’ll do you a lot of good, I promise.”

A thought in the back of his mind got brushed away like cobwebs ( _ he’s crazy _ , still whispered at the back of Minho’s ears) and the younger blinked up at the trees. “Yeah, here’s hoping,” he muttered, nibbling on the end of the joint. The crushed tobacco leaked between his teeth to stain his tongue, it tasted like the scent of the incense Jihoon was always burning in their dorm.

“You looking forwards to graduation?” Minho suddenly asked, curious. Despite being class president - more due to his parents money and status than anything - Jiho never seemed to show any kind of dedication to the Republic, much unlike his brother.

The older rasped out another laugh, leaning back to spit into the grass, before growling. “Naw, man, fuck that,” he sounded carefree in a way that made Minho’s chest ache with envy. “The Republic’s shit anyways, what’s the point?”

“Well, everyone expects it of you,” Minho’s voice had lowered to little more than a mumble, but he felt a firm hand clasp his chin.

“Who gives a fuck about their expectations?” Jiho spoke clearly and as he lifted Minho’s head to stare into his eyes, the younger’s heart started to beat faster. “They don’t own us, Mino.”

 

* * *

Jiho’s words were printed onto the back of Minho’s eyes, he couldn’t look at a professor without seeing those words, reflecting back on him, reminding him. _They don’t own us._ _They don’t own you._ He was having trouble focusing in class and by the time he got back to his dorm, he was so worn out, he felt like passing out.

“What the hell?” Jihoon demanded, throwing his bag onto his bed. “You said Woo Jiho would help you, but your grades are getting worse and worse. You’ve not been paying any attention in any of your classes!”

Before, Minho would have brushed off Jihoon’s nagging, before Jihoon would have accepted this and shut up after awhile. But recently, Minho had realized that he didn’t have to sit and take this, he didn’t have to listen to his roommate and best friend whine at him about his classes like he was his mother. He didn’t have to accept this kind of treatment from anyone.

Influenced by the power of words that he’d heard once or twice, Minho spoke very plainly and simply. “Fuck off, Jihoon.”

Minho and Jihoon had grown up across the plot from each other, their mothers did laundry together, as children they had played in the no gravity fields together. They both came from good homes that encouraged a purity of the mind, mouth and soul. Their mothers would have scolded them severely if they’d even caught the words “hell” or “damn” coming from their mouths, which Jihoon had started using once he was out of earshot of his mother.

But this, this was something else entirely and Jihoon blushed furiously at Minho’s words. Anger bubbled beneath his surface and his eyes were alight with a flame that was unfamiliar to Minho, he looked like a stranger for a moment.

“Jiho really has you under his thumb, huh?” Jihoon’s voice was venomous and it seemed to grate against Minho’s temperament like a match against strike paper.

“What does that mean?” Minho leapt to his feet, his back rolling off his bed. 

“You know what it means,” Jihoon fumed. “He’s got you all caught up in his words. You’d do anything he told you to, wouldn’t you? Like a...like a pet!”

Minho had heard enough, his blood felt like it was boiling over and he let out a cry of frustration as he struck Jihoon across the jaw. He had never resorted to his fists to let his anger out, until now. Jihoon retaliated with a punch to Minho’s mouth, sufficiently splitting the skin on his lip.

Thankfully, they’d left the door to their room open and passersby noticed the fight quickly, alerting others around them, until a pair of older students caught wind and rushed to the room. It took several minutes to successfully pry them apart, bitter words still being spit between the two.

“You’ve always been easy and you always will be!”

“No one owns me, Jihoon!”

Watching his own supposed best friend be pulled away from him seemed to strike a chord in Minho, a daunting realization that Woo Jiho did change things for him, but perhaps it was for the better.

 

* * *

“You fought with him?” Jiho’s eyebrows raised. “Well shit, kid I didn’t think you had it in you,” he laughed.

Minho’s swollen lip ached as he stretched it into a smile, an exact replica of Jiho’s sly grin and the dull pride in him made it feel worth it. “Yeah, I guess so. But it’s not fair, they suspended me for a week, how am I supposed to get my grades up if I can’t even attend class? They know exactly what they’re doing to me.”

“They’re giving you a week of freedom? And you’re bitching?” Jiho laughed again. Minho was learning that spending time with Jiho was like one big joke, because he was always laughing. Minho liked that about him.

“I didn’t really think about it like that,” Minho muttered, his bottom lip getting caught between his teeth as he spoke. He began chewing on the lip. “I wonder what I should do with my stolen time.”

“Not stolen,” Jiho corrected, sitting up, the grass that was beneath his back was not stuck on his jacket. “Given. You were given this time for a reason, Minho. You should do something with it. Something to make sure that the fuckin’ Republic never forgets your name.”

“Like what?” Minho’s eyes widened.

Consideration was taken seriously for a moment, Minho still chewing away at his lip and Jiho with his hands folded and his chin resting on top. The thoughts that swirled behind the older boy’s hues was almost mesmerizing to Minho and he leaned forwards to try to get a better glimpse.

“I’ve got it,” Jiho grinned.

 

* * *

**_2297, 4 Years Later_ **

“Move your fucking ass, or you’re literally going to be toast,” the growled command reached the soldier’s ears and he sighed bitterly.

“Why can’t I at least be a waffle?” he attempted to mutter his response, but it was received on the other end and his superior’s scoff was sharp through the headset.

The voice of Captain Kwon was normally one that encouraged people to do things, but not this soldier, this soldier was still determined to take his time. He puttered through the course, shooting the assigned targets and eventually when he reached the end, he simply high-fived the ‘enemy’ leader and walked through the exit.

“You dumbass,” Kwon hissed as soon as the younger man exited the training course, finding himself face to face with the seething captain. “You can’t keep doing this, you know. They’re going to make you do it again.”

“Oh please, it’s my last course, I graduate tomorrow. What difference will it make whether or not I complete it? I already have top marks,” the man rolled his eyes.

“Seungyoon-” Kwon started, but stopped as he received a pat on the arm from the soldier, watching as he -  _ how dare he? _ \- sauntered away. “Fuck you!”

The saccharine smile on Seungyoon’s face was enough to prove that Kwon’s words meant nothing to him anymore, he was no longer afraid of the superior officer and he was no longer intimidated by his stern expression. He was graduating tomorrow, he was almost free of this entire place.

When Seungyoon had agreed to enter into advanced training, he didn’t consider how far back in life it would set him. Special training would make him into an ‘elite soldier - the best of the best’ but how would he be the best if he was graduating at 23, while everyone else had already been on the field since they were 18? He felt behind...in everything.

However that was the last thing that would stop Seungyoon, he was so close to freedom he could taste it. But freedom was never really freedom, as he had signed his life over to the Republic and would do his duty as any good soldier should. Knowing the oath that he would recite tomorrow, he would swear to live and die under the Republic’s name, no matter what.

But it would be worth it, to never have to taste the air in this hell hole again.

 

* * *

Graduation from special training was a private affair, unlike regular graduation. It wasn’t a grand party, there were no family and friends to cheer you on. It was a dark room, your superiors and the Admiral. Forms were signed, a badge was given, you were told where to go and what to do and it was over like that.

For Seungyoon, it was all a haze and when he stepped out of the room, he felt as if he’d never stepped in there in the first place. The only proof that anything had ever occurred in there was that he was wearing a brand new badge and was holding a tablet that had the coordinates for his transportation on it.

He was allowed one bag of belongings onboard and as soon as he’d finished packing it - sure to attach the only trinkets he’d ever owned, a few keychains from his home and a small necklace from his first love - he was on his way. The winding halls of the KSA station were hard to navigate and after 8 years here, he figured it’d be familiar to him, but he was going towards the side of the station that he’d never been allowed before. The docks.

The docks were swarmed with merchants and soldiers, traveling in and out. Huddled over men pushed carts full of wares and a group of women in uniforms - a few looked injured - were pushing their way past, no doubt headed for the infirmary.

Seungyoon swallowed thickly and tried not to think too much of the fact that that would be him one day, he’d be headed back to the stations with burns across his forehead and cuts on his lips. One day, he’d be leaving the battlefield instead of heading directly for it.

_ Dock 82 _

He spotted it on the left side and he carefully walked towards it, peering at the crowd of people by it. Some of them were pushing cars up the ramp and onto the ship, some of them were simply travellers, clutching their few belongings and trying to squeeze themselves in with the merchants. One man in particular caught Seungyoon’s attention and he approached him.

“Uhm, this is the  _ Gyeongjik _ ?” he asked hesitantly.

The man was much taller than Seungyoon and he had the kind of bulging muscles that struck fear deep inside of any passersby. His face was stern and he fixed Seungyoon with a cold expression.

“What’s it to you?”

“I’m supposed to be on it. Kang Seungyoon?” he was hopeful and as the man’s eyes scanned over a tablet in his hand, he found himself silently praying. He didn’t want any trouble, after all, it was his first time going anywhere on his own.

“It’s leaving any second now, hurry your ass,” the man growled.

Seungyoon was grateful for the stealth and speed training he’d received as he grabbed his bag and moved as quickly as he could onto the ship. It was a low class freighter ship and it was old. The back was tightly packed with passengers and as Seungyoon tried to find a free seat, he realized that most of them smelled terrible.

The rusty interior of the ship made the young man worry for what the condition of the outside was, no doubt the hull had multiple cracks. But it would work and get him from point A to point B. And to make matters worse, Seungyoon was stuck next to a mother and child, the latter of which was very noisy.

Half an hour into the journey, the toddler started crying, chewing on his pigtails and clinging to his mother’s pants in a desperate cry for attention. The mother sighed irritably and brushed the child off, telling him to hush.

Seungyoon may have spent the past four years icing his heart and learning how to forget compassion was even a word, but he wasn’t on the field yet so there was no point in being cold hearted now. He crouched down, till he was face to face with the toddler and he gently poked the kid’s shoulder.

The child looked over his shoulder as him, tear stained cheeks still quivering.

“Don’t cry,” Seungyoon chirped, reaching out a knuckle to swipe at the tear tracks. “There’s nothing to be sad about.”

Wide eyes blinked in response at Seungyoon and eventually the boy turned all the way around to face the soldier and a small chubby fist reached up to clutch the knuckle that had brushed his face. The child’s grip tightened when Seungyoon attempted to pull his hand away.

“Here,” Seungyoon murmured, reaching over to his backpack. He unhooked one of the keychains, it was a small copper bear head and he turned to press it into the child’s hand. “It has special powers.”

The boy’s eyebrows raised in interest and when Seungyoon crooked a finger, the boy pressed close. The man whispered into the child’s ear, his deep voice unheard from the adults in proximity. “It will protect you from ignorance,” he recited the words he’d heard from his mother so long ago. “If you believe in it, your thoughts will never cloud.”

Apparently this wasn’t captivating a revelation on this 3 year old as it was on 14 year old Seungyoon and the soldier was disappointed as the kid shrugged a little and started to suck on the copper keychain. If he got sick, Seungyoon thought, at least he’d be far away before the kid started to show any symptoms.

The ship lurched as it increased speed, now clear of the freeway, which was an intersection in between the planet 7382-NX where the KSA Station was placed and the closest QS planet. Traffic was always backed up a couple hundred thousand miles, making it difficult to go as fast as they needed. At some points they were slowed to 59,000 MPH and Seungyoon felt like tearing his hair out, it would take them hours to get there.

Now with the traffic cleared up as they were on an off-route, things were going much smoother, however due to the increased speed, the old ship was rattling something awful. Seungyoon had to hold onto his bag and an elderly man next to him, in an attempt to save them both.

The old man bowed his head in thanks when the rattling eased up enough for him to stand on his own and the young soldier returned the bow, with a small smile. At this rate, all Seungyoon could think about was the number of strangers he’d touched. He’d probably contracted at least two diseases.

Trying to be subtle, he withdrew a spray mask from his pocket and pressed the trigger a few times over his lips and nose, feeling the medicine form onto his skin, creating a protective layer. Now he at least didn’t have to worry about further diseases breaching his immune system.

After nearly two hours, the freighter finally screeched to a halt at the first stop.  _ Union Cross _ , the voice over the loudspeaker read off and Seungyoon checked his coordinates. This was where he got off. This was where he met his ‘unit’, this was where everything changed.

He pushed his way off the freighter, throwing a small wave towards the toddler he’d given his keychain to, the smile on the child’s face made him feel a little better about himself as he walked down the ramp into the crowd of people who were swarming the platform. It would be a struggle to get through them all.

As he pushed past people, he peered through the crowd, just barely making out a neon sign that read  _ Sungyeon _ , that must be him. Despite the misspelling he was happy that there was actually someone waiting for him. He could do without the attraction the neon sign brought but as he got closer, he could get a good look at the sign holder.

It was a small man, with big eyes and carrot colored hair. He looked alert and serious and was dressed in a completely black combat uniform - a heavy contrast from Seungyoon’s own yellow and grey dress uniform from the ‘graduation’.

He approached the man and peered at him for a moment, before speaking up. “Hello, sir,” he greeted, saluting. “I’m Kang Seu-”

“Shut up, kid!” the man hissed, one hand dropping a corner of the sign and shooting out to clap a hand over his mouth. “Do you want everyone to know your name?”

“Oh, sorry. Well, here’s my identification,” he reached into the breast pocket of his uniform and handed a small chip to the man, who snatched it from his grip. He held it close to his face and read over the writing that was engraved into the microchip.

The man rolled his eyes and tucked the microchip into his pocket. “Alright, well follow me,” he directed and started off through the crowd.

Seungyoon was close on his heels, but as he’d never been off-world before, as soon as they broke free of the docks dome, he found his eyes torn to the sky and his mouth hung open in amazement. The pastel green and yellow sky seemed to stretch forever and it was adorned with burning pink stars that looked like tiny flower buds set into frosting on a spring cake.

Beings of every shape, size and color were making their way down the road, creatures resembling horses were meandering through the crowd, pulling wagons of wares or luggage. It looked like a good old fashioned marketplace and Seungyoon felt a mixture of feelings inside him as he looked between his uniform and their drab garments.

The inhabitants of this planet looked poor, not just poor, but...meak. Their faces were gaunt and he wondered if they were starving, as he got a closer look at the orange tinted ridges that spread across one person’s head. He wasn’t sure what was normal for these people here, but as he raced to catch up with his escort, he felt a bit of shame for assuming.

When the man stopped at a vehicle of sorts - it was more like a gas powered carriage than anything - he climbed into the right seat and gestured for Seungyoon to join him. The soldier hesitantly clambered into the passenger seat and began searching for a seatbelt. There was none.

Nor was there a windshield and as they set off, he suddenly felt concern about the dust, as great big clouds of it billowed out behind them. He risked a glance over his shoulder to see the dirt begin to settle on everything within a ten foot radius, other carts, people and even food stands were coated in it now. He grimaced.

The vehicle moved much faster than he would have expected and he found himself gripping onto the bottom part of the seat, not wanting to look at his companion, the other man’s careless posture visible in his peripheral. They lurched through the streets, the small houses were illuminated on the inside from lamps, filled with Light Stuff, a cleverly named bioluminescent fluid which had been discovered nearly half a century ago.

Seungyoon found it difficult to tear his eyes away from the village around them, his interest piqued at every single living space or group of people that they passed. A small chuckle caught his attention and he turned to see the other man with a small smirk on his face.

“You’re new to this, aren’t you?” he asked.

The soldier nodded.

“I thought special forces were supposed to be cold hearted, sum’bitches,” he quirked an eyebrow at Seungyoon, who shrugged.

“I guess I’m unusual.”

“Didn’t let them break you, huh? They must’ve loved that.”

They rode in silence for the rest of the way, when the vehicle stopped, Seungyoon perked up and took note of their surroundings. A miserable looking building was surrounded by overgrown plants of varying colors, looking like a rainbow of growth at the base. He slowly slid off the wagon, following the man to the entrance of the building, which was a tall doorway that was illuminated by the street lights.

The man entered in a passcode and Seungyoon watched in awe as the door slid upwards, revealing a...oh. There was an ill lit sitting room that had various couches and chairs, seven men were sprawled across the furniture and Seungyoon couldn’t take in all of them at once, so he tried to focus on one at a time.

A shorter man with an angular face was leaning his elbows on a table, he had a wicked grin on his face and a fire lurking behind his eyes. A silver stud secured his eyebrow in a permanently curious expression. He had beady eyes that peered at Seungyoon from across the room through parted blonde locks and the soldier felt a shiver run down his spine.

His gaze shifted to the next man, this one was tall and thin - almost wispy - he eyes were narrowed into slits and his mouth was pursed into a line. His round face was framed by long strands of black hair that had slipped out of the ponytail that was secured behind his head. He was sitting on the couch, drumming his fingers judgmentally.

Next to him on the couch was a smaller man who could have been mistaken for his brother, he chewing on his bottom lip and he was all but nestled into the bigger man’s side. There was a spark in his eyes that warned Seungyoon to stay where he was. He looked young too, his innocent look was aided by the shockingly blonde hair that came down to cover his ears, curling under his eye.

The next one that caught Seungyoon’s attention was a handsome looking man, he had a squared jaw and big round eyes, that looked interested in everything. He had sandy hair that covered his forehead and part of one of his eyes. There was a confidence that could be felt from across the room.

Peering through the darkness, Seungyoon made out a figure, black cropped hair slicked back off a pale forehead. He was distracted by the eyes peering at him through the shadows and he shivered a little. Not much could be said for this one.

The last two were a large muscular looking kid - he had to have been a few years younger than Seungyoon - he had a decently friendly face, youthful with big ears that stuck out like wings from his reddish hair and next to him was a man who was surprisingly beautiful, Seungyoon decided. He had dark tan skin that looked like melted caramel, he seemed to glow in the dim lights. He was wearing combat gear, oddly enough and he had a stern expression, his oddly deep purple hair seemed to offset his general look.

“‘Sup,” was all Seungyoon said in greeting, receiving a ripple of sneers from across the room.

There was a voice that came from the figure in the dark, it was deep and soft, despite the harshness of the words. “Who the hell are you?”

“Uhm, Se-”

The man who’d brought him here slapped a hand over his mouth. “Yooni,” he interrupted, turning fiery eyes on Seungyoon, making the soldier stare back at him with wild eyes, confusion laced in his hues.

“Sure. Yooni,” he finally spat, after shoving the other man’s hand off.

There was a few chuckles around the room, not the amused “ _ you’re funny, I think I’m going to show my appreciation for your humor with a laugh _ ” but rather a “ _ you’re stupid, allow me to mock you _ ” sort of chuckle and it frustrated Seungyoon to no end.

“Don’t tell me this....idiot is our new squad member?” the words were venomous, coming from the handsome one. Seungyoon knew something was off about him.

“He looks like leader-nim,” came a soft voice and another round of bitter chuckles were shared.

Seungyoon had never felt more unwelcome. If he was younger and more inexperienced, he might have had to bite back tears, but they didn’t come in situations like this anymore, instead what he got was a bubble of anger that made him huff.

“Introduce yourselves, don’t be rude,” Seungyoon’s escort sighed, even though they had already been very rude.

“Oh come on, Blockbuster,” the frighteningly alert one at the table sighed, his eyes still looked intense and Seungyoon couldn’t look at him for more than a few seconds. “He’ll catch up eventually, why do we have to do a fucking roll call?”

The man - Blockbuster? - cast his eyes to the ceiling, as if begging for patience. “Fine, whatever. But you’re going to have to accept him sooner or later. I’m going to go find Z.”

And with that he was gone, leaving Seungyoon to face this pack on his own. He felt his skin crawl as sharp gazes seemed to rake across his body, before they all lost interest at once and suddenly went back to focusing on what they were doing before. Which appeared to be a game of cards, watching videos on tablets and even an arm wrestling match - although seeing as he was the only person at that table, there must have been more to it than met the eye.

Whatever conversation Seungyoon and his escort had interrupted struck back up, sounding surprisingly jovial despite the wickedness they’d directed at the newcomer. He felt himself deflate a little as he listened to them, quickly losing track of who was talking.

“I still can’t believe you pissed your fucking pants, Rex. There are literally bathrooms in every corner of the hall.”

“I was 11, you dick.”

“It’s just an execution, what’s to be  _ traumatized _ by?”

Another card was dealt and an outbreak of jeers and curses erupted, startling Seungyoon. Their words were starting to cloud around his head and he watched lean pale hands deal another round of cards out. A sharpness in the movements was mesmerizing.

“Give him a break,” this voice was smoother than the rest.

“Sorry Eomma, I forgot you don’t like fighting.”

“I can and will kick your ass.”

“Hey, don’t piss off Eomma, he’ll decapitate you with a blink of his eye.”

“Chill the fuck out. Anyways when you’d get so far up his ass?”

“Maybe he’s been up  _ my _ ass.”

“I most certainly have not.”

A cackle rippled through the air and Seungyoon watched the owner of the sound wipe his nose on his hand, before going back to arm wrestling with nothing.

“You’re all fucking insane.”

Seungyoon mentally agreed with that.

“Z,” someone purred.

Mind still fuzzy, Seungyoon slowly looked over his shoulder, finding himself face to face with someone who looked shockingly like what he last remembered himself looking like. The most prominent difference being the eyepatch secured tightly over his right eye, his lips weren’t quite as full as Seungyoon’s and the eye that was visible didn’t look as sleepy. Taken aback, the soldier quickly stepped away from the man.

The man’s hair was a dark rust color and swept off his forehead, he was dressed - surprisingly - in a dark grey sweater and loose comfortable looking pants. He was surveying Seungyoon with a peculiar gaze, an awareness in his eye that was disconcerting and Seungyoon suddenly felt like he was being scrutinized.

“So,” his voice was rough but soft, like a ragged whisper. “You’re Yooni,” he practically spat his name and Seungyoon twitched, but didn’t let his uncertainty show on his face. “The new recruit from KSA.”

“Man, fuck KSA!”

“Shut up,” the man snarled. “Joker, what did we say about interrupting?”

The lanky one at the table ducked his head and muttered. “Sorry, Z.”

Z, Seungyoon could only assume this was his name, continued in a steady tone. “What’re your skills?”

“I’m special forces,” Seungyoon explained simply, as if this answered his questions.

Taking a step forwards and almost pushing the soldier off his feet, Z loomed in close, his face almost frightening up close. “That’s not what I asked.”

From this close, Seungyoon could make out a jagged line that came from underneath his eyepatch. It was a red and scarred and crept down the man’s cheekbone. He realized too late that he’d been staring and the fury that slowly appeared on Z’s face made Seungyoon swallow, his throat feeling like it was filled with thick bile.

“Uh, everything? That’s the whole point of special forces,” he blurted out, trying not to look Z in the eye, for fear of finding himself staring at the tip of the scar again.

Expecting more harsh words, Seungyoon was surprised when his response was met with a loud bark of laughter. He watched as Z stepped away and threw his head back, his short bursts of laughter making his chest heave. Seungyoon tried not to think about how full it looked under that sweater.

“Nobody’s good at everything,” sneered the pretty boy as he rose to his feet, creeping closer.

Z held up a hand, stopping the man in his tracks. “Easy, One,” he cooed, reaching out to flick at Seungyoon’s chin, laugh lines still painting the cheeks of his face. “You’re kinda cute. We’ll let you stay.”

A murmur of disagreement spread, but before anyone could say something, the figure was moving out of the shadows and dashing across the room to cling to Z’s arm. It was a fresh faced man, who looked like he might be around Seungyoon’s age, he had dark hair that was sticking out in all directions, his lips were formed into an amused pout.

“Ohhh, Z, of course he’s cute, he looks like you,” the man’s voice was surprisingly deep and he had a cheeky look about him. It made Seungyoon’s stomach twist, he told himself it was disgust.

“If you like him so much,” Z slowly turned and faced the man, leaning close so their noses were touching. “Then, he’s all yours.”

The man gave a look of surprise, his eyebrows raised and his lips forming a little ‘o’, it was oddly cu- no, dumb, it was a stupid look on him. Seungyoon shook his head to himself as the man looked at him, he was about the same height.

Z turned to leave, waving his hand and all the men rose from where they were sitting, moving to follow him. He sauntered over to a staircase that Seungyoon hadn’t even seen before, he cast one last look at the soldier, a burning look full of things that Seungyoon couldn’t read. And then he was gone, the rest of the unit trailing after him, each with their own look of distrust or otherwise rejection towards the newcomer.

Everyone left. Except him. His eyebrows were still raised as he looked closer at Seungyoon, he wasn’t disgusted or bothered, none of the bitterness from earlier. He seemed entirely focused on staring at Seungyoon, until the young soldier became uncomfortable and turned away.

“Sorry,” the man chuckled. “You really look a lot like him.”

Seungyoon huffed.

“I’m Mino,” a soft looking hand was offered. Seungyoon shook it. “Come here.”

Mino grabbed at Seungyoon’s wrist and was pulling him up the staircase, turning left down a hall and disappearing into darkness. He could no longer see where they were going, but he assumed Mino knew the way. And if need be, he was pretty sure he could take Mino in a fistfight.

A door was being unlocked, the beeping of the keypad caught his ears and he tensed for a moment as there was a swish and the door slid open. He blinked. Warm light flooded his eyes and he squinted as a bedroom came into view. There was two beds and a rug. A wardrobe and another door. That was all that adorned the room.

“Is this...” Seungyoon peered around, his brow slowly creeping upwards. “Your room?”

Mino laughed, it was a warm sound that flooded Seungyoon’s senses. “Well I don’t live here, but yeah.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Seungyoon gave an unimpressed look as he poked at one of the beds, watching it creak and sigh beneath his finger. How uncomfortable...

“Uhm, no,” Mino chuckled. “You didn’t know this was a hotel?”

“No,” Seungyoon blinked at him. He’d never been off-world, hotels were  _ very _ different on this QS planet. “I didn’t.”

“Okay...” Mino’s tongue darted out to swipe across his pink lip, his teeth sinking into it, turning it from pink to red. “Well, you can have that bed, it’s not been used.”

Seungyoon followed his pointing hand to the bed on the right, it looked much more comfortable than the sunken bed on the left. He frowned a little, but sat on it anyways.

For the first time in weeks, Seungyoon went to bed that night wanting to cry himself to sleep.

 

* * *

They packed up the remainder of their things and then Seungyoon was suddenly being shoved outside, ushered on by Blockbuster and Mino, they were the only ones who treated him like a real person anyways. The ship outside was a sleek fighter class vessel with a 4.3 lite-engine, Seungyoon stared at it in awe as he examined the sharp rounded edges. It was entirely black save a few blue caps here and there.

He’d never been this close to one before, let alone one this big. He crept closer and considered touching it, but the stern look he was receiving from Ponyboy - the haunted looking blonde - made him change his mind.

It was a struggle, but he was slowly learning everybody’s names and positions. The crazy one was Joker, he had a mouth like a sailor and he was definitely insane. There was Mino, he seemed to be some kind of weapons expert, but he was glued to the leader’s side 24/7. The leader was Z, he had seen some shit.

There was Blockbuster, the carrot head who had brought Seungyoon here, he seemed to quietly keep things running smoothly. The large dark skinned man with the purple locks was questionably referred to as Eomma. He seemed to be some kind of on-hand bodyguard.

The one who resembled a dinosaur - who literally never left Eomma’s side, was aptly named Rex, he seemed to be the extra muscle of the group. The tall gaunt looking one that Seungyoon didn’t dare get near was Reaper, he didn’t seem to ever find anything amusing, but he must have been reliable as everyone turned to him for answers and help.

Ponyboy was the technician and he was the only one who could follow Reaper without being told off. And the last one, curiously enough was called 1AM, he was the too handsome arrogant one who set Seungyoon’s teeth on edge. His position in the group seemed to be Resident Punching Bag. With the exception of Seungyoon - courtesy of being a new arrival - any and all jokes generally revolved around 1AM.

He didn’t seem to mind too much and Seungyoon wondered what kind of self-assurance he had to have to be able to take the constant teasing. But he didn’t wonder too hard, as he found the less he thought about 1AM, the happier he was.

Being on this wonderful ship as it turns out, wasn’t as great as Seungyoon had first thought as he found himself sandwiched between Rex and Eomma, and despite being about their height, he still felt impossibly small. They were both hulking figures who were imposing in their own ways and intimidating in that they were stone faced and their lips were drawn into tight lines.

The ship lurched to life and Seungyoon found himself being thrown sideways, his body crashed into Rex’s and he was surprised by how firm the arms that grabbed onto him were, hauling him upright. Rex looked surprised and when he turned, he was faced with Eomma’s eyes, boring into him warningly.

“Watch yourself,” the man spoke, his voice was sterner than Seungyoon had heard it before and he wondered momentarily if there was some kind of a possessiveness between him and Rex. He stepped away, hands raised and apologetic. 

An odd tension resided between them and he crept away from them as much as he could, while still being trapped in the back of the ship with them. He noticed that Ponyboy was piloting and Reaper was manning the co-pilot position, they really must be inseparable. Doing his best not to get in anyone’s way, he settled onto the floor, in a little corner. He felt a bit like a child, holding his knees and hiding in the back, but it was better than getting squashed or threatened by the two hulking soldiers next to him.

He peered through the group of legs before him to see that he wasn’t the only one who’d taken to the floor. Oddly enough, Z was hunched on the ground right behind the co-pilot seat, his eyes closed as he took deep breaths and seemed to be trying to will away his own existence. Seungyoon peered curiously at him and moved to get closer, but he felt a hand suddenly come down on his shoulder.

“Sir doesn’t like ships,” came Joker’s lazy drawl from above, “They make him uncomfy.”

“How so?”

Another voice cut in, 1AM’s slightly Busan accented words reminding Seungyoon of his own sometimes. “He’s had some bad experiences in the past. Leave him be.”

The soldier looked up between the two men above him, at some point they must have replaced Eomma and Rex, who were further away from him now. He felt his stomach sink, these two were his least favorite, they liked to make things difficult for him.

His point was proven as halfway through the next hour, 1AM had leaned down and started asking him intensely personal questions that he knew he shouldn’t answer for security reasons. He inquired about his family and where he grew up, he asked if he had any allergies and he asked if he was a virgin. None of which Seungyoon answered, with the exception of the occasional eyeroll.

“He’s not answering me,” 1AM pouted up at Joker, he moved closer, till Seungyoon’s nose met his knee.

Joker’s manic look set Seungyoon’s teeth on edge and he felt a prickle run through his skin as the deranged man leaned all the way down to stare into his eyes. He only just now noticed that one of his eyes were slightly different from the other. He blinked at him for a moment, before leaning close and letting his tongue slide along Seungyoon’s brow bone.

“Tastes stubborn,” Joker murmured when he pulled away.

Trying not to recoil in disgust, Seungyoon simply held his ground with a clenched jaw. He was not about to break face in front of these freaks. 1AM’s quiet cackling could be overheard from above, but with the way they were standing, no one else on board would have been able to see Seungyoon in his position.

It was just him against them.

“Come on, don’t be such a spoil sport,” Joker sneered, lifting his hand to Seungyoon’s jaw, pressing his thumb against the man’s lips. Seungyoon kept his mouth firmly closed, but with enough pressure, Joker’s thumb broke his hold and pushed it’s way into his mouth, his thumbnail cutting his lip from the force.

His thumb pressed against Seungyoon’s tongue, the taste of oil and dirt was apparent on his skin and the young soldier did everything he could not to gag--or bite down on the thumb. The last thing he wanted was to piss them off anymore.

The finger in his mouth twisted and soon the thumbnail was pressing against his tongue, as if trying to break the skin. The rest of his fingers came down to wrap around his jaw and tug his face close to Joker’s thigh, his forehead meeting something warm and fleshy through his trousers. Seungyoon didn’t want to think about it.

“So cute like this,” Joker ground between his teeth.

“I don’t think-” 1AM started but Joker hissed, shutting him up.

_ Fucking coward, _ Seungyoon thought.

“Like a little puppy,” the deranged soldier started to crouch down, the warmth pressing against Seungyoon’s forehead moved down the side of his face until Joker was crouched in front of him, still holding onto his jaw. He brought his face down until his nose met his boot. “Stay, puppy.”

Being in the special military certainly taught you humility, but it didn’t teach you to submit to wackjobs who were trying to make you look weak. Every ounce of Seungyoon’s blood was boiling in anger, he wanted to flip this creep over and make him taste his own boots. But he held his ground, knowing that fighting back wouldn’t win him any favors here.

He was incredibly good at trying patience, this Joker. Seungyoon quickly learned this as he pressed close to his ear, the toe of his boot bopping his nose roughly as he spoke. “Good boy,” he purred, his nails cutting into the skin of his jaw and the center of his tongue.

Blood was starting to creep against his tastebuds and Seungyoon shut his eyes tight, he just needed to stay patient until the other man got bored. That’s how you got rid of people like this, wasn’t it?

“ _ Joker _ ,” came a growl and within seconds the psychotic man was being hauled to his feet, his hand ripped from the grip it had on Seungyoon’s jaw, leaving claw streaks along his chin and leaving his tongue burning numbly, blood filling his mouth.

Looking up - startled by the tears that stung the corners of his eyes at the pain in his jaw - Seungyoon was surprised to see Z with a tight grip on the back of Joker’s collar. There was a wild look in his eye as he snarled quiet words into the man’s ear, before shoving him away. Joker scampered to the back, looking like a kicked pet.

Z fixed Seungyoon with an emotionless gaze, before he dipped down and his hand swept low, catching his hand and pulling him to his feet. He used one hand to push against Seungyoon’s chest, slamming him against the wall.

_ And here I thought he was helping _ , Seungyoon thought glumly, not looking forwards to whatever this man had planned for him.

But Z simply tilted his chin back, examined the marks in his skin. He traced the bloody line with one finger, noticing that Seungyoon did not flinch, not even when he applied some pressure. The captain huffed slightly, a foul breath hitting Seungyoon straight on, before he pushed him once more - chuckling at the way he bounced back off the wall - and he went back to his corner on the floor.

The rest of the flight was relatively quiet, as Seungyoon stuck to his spot, pressed against the wall as close as he could get. Rex and Eomma had resumed their place in front of him, almost serving as a shield between him and the two glowering psychopaths that stood across from him. 1AM’s dark eyes were heavy and occasionally shifted over him, a warning somewhere behind his pupils.

Joker was as fidgety as ever, sometimes he would sit and pout and cast sour looks in Z’s direction, but sometimes - when no one else was looking at him - he would make eye contact with Seungyoon and slowly,  _ slowly _ lick his lips. He looked ready to devour the new soldier and Seungyoon had never before felt so uncomfortable in his life.

“Where are we going actually?” he asked Rex, whose rounded eyes skirted over him before flicking to Eomma. No response was given by the older man, so Rex spoke.

“Our first mission of the month. It’s about damn time, if you ask me,” he muttered. “We could do to get paid about now.”

Seungyoon nodded a little. He wasn’t quite sure how missions here worked, but he figured he was about to find out.

When the ship finally lurched and groaned and came to a halt, Seungyoon felt his stomach flip. The inertial dampeners could do with some fine tuning, but he wasn’t going to complain and he simply filed out of the ship, after the other members.

Blockbuster skittered up next to him and nudged him gently. “Stick with me,” he warned.

The ship had landed in some kind of old dock, it smelled like oil and was thick with smoke. Seungyoon tried not to choke on the air alone, but he coughed a few times, enough to cause annoyance in the other men. Eomma looked disgusted, as if he was contagious.

The dock as it turned out was one of many and as they exited the main cavern, they found themselves in a vast hallway that stretched out for what seemed like ever. Hallway was an understatement for this place, it was big, it looked like a city street. The smoke shrouded their sight to where there was no telling where the ceiling was or most of the walls, but what they could see was endless cold metal.

Reaper led the way as they began a long journey down the metal street, examining every opening that they happened across. There was a sense of formation and it was this moment that Seungyoon was reminded that they were all trained by the same company, they were all soldiers at the end of the day.

He felt as if everyone had a place and knew it, as they slipped into a comfortable pattern. All except Seungyoon. He shuffled quietly towards the back, with Blockbuster, who was keeping a close on behind them. He felt a tad bit awkward, but refused to let it show and so followed his instincts. Keep a low profile, a close eye on your surroundings and don’t ever relax entirely.

As it turned out, applying these rules to all parts of his life right now was working out pretty well for him. He didn’t say anything to the others as they moved as one through the smoke and the smell of burnt oil seemed to be getting stronger.

Now that he was thinking about it, he didn’t even know what their mission was per se. He knew that they were in a war with about two different races, but he wasn’t sure outside of that. What was the purpose of this team? What were they were supposed to do? What  _ were _ they doing?

He almost asked Blockbuster, but kept his mouth shut for the time being. He’d learn with time and more importantly, now was not the time to be asking questions that would put him even lower on everyone else’s shit-lists.

When they came to stop at a crevice in the wall, Seungyoon tried to see what Reaper and Z were fiddling with, but he decided against nosing about and kept to the back of the group. He waited for a minute or so, before the wall was breaking inwards and sliding back to reveal a doorway that led into a dark hallway. This one the size of a normal hallway.

One by one, they entered the hall, Reaper making a hand signal at Eomma, who hung at the back until everyone was herded into the hall. The walls were built of a dark grey metal and the lights that pulsed beneath the cracks along the interior were a vibrant purple. It was hard not to squint in the LED glare.

The door behind them with a slid shut with a loud bang and 1AM jumped, before making a sheepish face and turning his back to the others. They all moved as one down the hall, each of them alert and overly aware of their surroundings. Each hiss from the pipes or hum from the lights overhead made heads turn.

When they finally broke from the end of the hallway, they found themselves standing in a smaller room with a raised console in the center. Ponyboy immediately went to it and crouched, he pulled off a panel from the base of the console and began fiddling with whatever was behind it. The walls were covered in screens and smaller consoles were beneath each of these.

“Don’t touch anything,” Ponyboy whispered into the quiet of the room, addressing everyone. There was shuffled feet and Seungyoon found himself staring at a very embarrassed Blockbuster, who was holding his hands up in defense.

“Oh.”

The red haired man seemed thoroughly ashamed of himself as Ponyboy stared at him wildly. “Don’t touch anything else,” he grumbled.

For several minutes, the only sounds were the click of the tools the young technician was using and the breathing of the men around him. At some point he demanded that they breathe quieter as it was harder for him to concentrate.

Seungyoon was still lost to what the mission here was, but he labored his breathing regardless. If he pissed Ponyboy off, he’d piss Reaper off and then he’d have two very difficult rivals on his hands.

“Done,” Ponyboy announced, rising and dusting his hands off on his pants. 

“Great, let’s get out of here,” Z growled, motioning for Reaper to check the hall they’d come in through.

_ Wait, _ Seungyoon’s mind spun. “That’s it?” he scoffed.

Blockbuster swatted at his arm warningly, but he ignored it. “We came all this way just for that?” Seungyoon’s eyes narrowed at Z.

The other members of the team very slowly looked between Seungyoon and Z, they seemed to be worried about how this would end. But Seungyoon wasn’t afraid of the team leader, out of all of the things that he’d faced in his life, Z was far down his list.

“Yeah,” Z spoke carefully. “You got a problem with that?”

“It’s stupid! You didn’t even tell us what we came for and now we’re done? You made a big deal over a few buttons?”

The man stepped closer, his likeness to Seungyoon made him just a tiny bit more intimidating. There was a tiny smirk playing at his lips as he closed in. “Does that make you feel special? The new guy who has to question the leader? Is that what makes you feel big?”

His voice was quiet, but his words made Seungyoon feel like he was being shouted at. Shame plunged through his gut as there was various chuckles through the group. He couldn’t just blame it on them now, he had made himself look like an idiot.

“No, sir,” he spoke through gritted teeth.

His words awoke a sort of light in Z’s eyes and he reached out a hand to thumb over Seungyoon’s cheek, he almost flinched, his mouth still tasted like blood from Joker’s antics earlier.

Z breathed something that sounded like ‘ _ cute _ ’, but he pulled away from Seungyoon and pointed towards the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

* * *

The path back to the ship was short lived and in what felt like no time, Seungyoon was pressed against the wall of the ship again. In front of him was Blockbuster and Joker, who had shoved Rex out of the way to claim this spot. He fidgeted in next to the red head, occasionally casting shifty glances down at the man, who was busy watching the cockpit, where Z was whispering with Reaper.

There was something unsettling about Reaper and Seungyoon couldn’t put his tongue on it, he was quiet but his voice was so soft, almost like a woman’s. He knew he’d been staring too long, but he couldn’t tug his gaze away until Reaper’s eyes snapped up to meet his, his glare made a shiver run down Seungyoon’s spine. He quickly looked away.

“See something you like?” Joker hissed, looking between Seungyoon and the two in the cockpit.

“Shut up, Joker,” Blockbuster sighed.

Seungyoon was grateful for Blockbuster in this moment, he knew that he at least didn’t hate him or want to eat him, so he felt slightly comforted by his presence. As the ship rocked and shook, pushing its way through space, the astral clouds of gas that hung amongst the chunks of asteroid were cast aside as the ship launched towards their next destination.

“Where exactly are we going?” Mino suddenly asked, as if reading Seungyoon’s mind.

Z lazily called a response from the cockpit. “Wherever the hell we want.”

A scoff came from Ponyboy. “We’re going back to the home world to wait for our next assignment.”

“Wait,” 1AM stood up. “We’re going back?”

“Don’t get used to it,” Z sneered.

Seungyoon felt at a loss as there was a wash of uneasiness that went over the other members, a mixture of happiness, relief and discontent. Some of them were obviously more pleased than others about this news, however Z, Eomma and Joker seemed the most displeased of all.

What could be so bad about going home? Seungyoon wondered.

He would soon find out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo friends~  
> I'm finally updating after... a little while. I'm hoping to update semi frequently, I just need to actually yknow.. write shit.  
> Anyways, I changed the rating for this chapter, because this one's pretty dark, just a warning.
> 
> Trigger warnings: violence, cult ritual (ish), mentions of sacrificing, mentions of dead animals (I did NOT go into detail), sexual tension ?????? and general asshole behavior from everyone

Homeworld as it turned out was so far from 7382-NX, the buildings were not shiny and glass, the people were not perfectly behaved and dressed for business every day. The buildings - if they could be called that - were made of some kind of thick metal, they looked impossible to see through and it seemed more like a war barracks than a city, but most of the members were happy to be here at least.

As they stepped off the ship and the rolling purple skies came into view, Seungyoon squinted up at the two moons which seemed to be actively circling each other, they must have been moving impossibly fast. He gaped up at them as Mino grabbed his hand and pulled him along. He made eye contact with the other man, shocked to feel his warm hand grasping his own cold one.

There was a strange sensation building in his stomach as Mino’s soft fingers wrapped around his callous ones and tugged gently. “Come on,” Mino spoke quietly, pulling him after the group, who were already halfway towards the closest building.

The structure they were approaching was twice the size of the others, it was shaped like an octagon and seemed to have some kind of metal locks on every corner, holding it together. It was looming high into the dark sky and Seungyoon craned his neck further and further back as they got closer, looking up at it.

When they reached the building, Z tapped a spot on the wall and a door opened up, lights illuminating the doorway in a blinding glow of pink. One by one they entered the light and Seungyoon squinted as Mino pulled him through the doorway.

Once they were inside, Seungyoon’s eyes started to adjust, a low thrum of unfamiliar music was starting to reach his ears and he peeked an eye open, risking the pain of the light.

They were in an octagonal shaped room, but that was the only similarity between the outside and inside of the building. The walls looked like gloss, reflecting their appearances back at them, the room they were in had poles connecting from the floor to the ceiling. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised as he took in the tables and counters filling the edges of the room. There were floor panels in a square shape that glowed red as they were touched.

Swarms of people filled the - club, he could only assume - and the music was growing louder as his body adjusted to the atmosphere. The air was thick with an unfamiliar fragrance and it clogged Seungyoon’s senses the more he breathed it in. Mino’s warm hand was starting to feel tingly against his skin, almost too warm.

Z was already used to the atmosphere as he disappeared into the crowd, Blockbuster in tow. Joker and 1AM were starting to bop their heads to the music, wandering over towards what looked like a bar. Mino was pulling on Seungyoon’s hand and he followed him into the throngs of bodies and he felt the music start to creep into his head. It was a song he’d never heard before, but it felt like he’d known it forever, it filled his thoughts like when you heard a melody from your childhood.

He was too dizzy now to feel bothered by the unsettling nature of this club and he allowed Mino to pull him over to a couch by a table. The other man was shouting some words at him, but he couldn’t understand what he was saying and he simply nodded dumbly at him. It was too loud, but still so quiet, almost like his eardrums were muffled. He felt his head starting to ring as he watched people of various shapes and colors dancing.

A very yellow feminine person approached him and sneered at him as he frowned up at them. They seemed to be laughing at him and he wondered if this was normal here. A pair of hands were suddenly on his chest and he looked over to see blue eyes staring back at him, light brown hair hung down around the eyes and the hands started to feel around more.

_ What the hell have they dragged me into? _ He thought as he squinted over at where Reaper and Ponyboy were whispering by the door. He wanted to call for help, but he couldn’t talk, his tongue felt so thick and heavy, like it would break his jaw if he tried to speak.

A thumb rubbed at his nipple and shivers went from his head to his toes, his mouth opening to form an ‘o’. It felt  _ good _ , but also so wrong.  _ Where did Mino go?  _ The person in front of him was scooting closer, almost in his lap now, their mouth going to attach at his neck. He couldn’t stop his head from tilting backwards and he wondered if it was just because it was heavy. The air was making his head spin.

After what felt like hours, Mino eventually appeared in his line of sight, a scowl fixed on his face. He chased the person away, frustration painted on his features. In his hands, he held two drinks, one of which was a fiery red and the other was crystal clear and perhaps- _ glowing?  _ He handed the glowing drink to Seungyoon, instructing him to drink, but his words were lost in the noise, so he reached out and grabbed Yoon’s chin.

The soldier’s eyes widened as Mino tilted his head back and pressed the mouth of the glass to his lips, mouthing the word ‘ _ drink _ ’. So Seungyoon did. The second the liquid reached the back of his throat, suddenly his mind was clear, it was as if he was emerging from water and all of his senses returned to him. He stared at Mino in confusion as he went to drink more.

“What is this stuff?” he hissed as he swallowed his second gulp.

“It makes you immune to the drugs in the air. Z likes to come here to get high, but I prefer to keep a clear head,” he shrugged a little, taking the drink from Seungyoon and sipping from it. “It makes it easier to have sex.”

Seungyoon choked on what little liquid was left in his throat, the taste unidentifiable to him and he stared up at Mino. “S-sex?”

“Oh,” Mino’s lips twisted, his deep voice got a little higher pitched as he spoke. “See when two people get turned on, y’know...aroused? They-”

“Stop! I know what sex is,” Seungyoon interrupted. “I just... didn’t realize that was something you did...frequently.”

“Only every night,” Mino rolled his eyes, sipping from the red drink now. Judging by his grimace, Seungyoon would keep his lips off that one tonight.

The soldier looked away and stared at the lights hanging above the crowd, where he could barely make out the other team members mixed with the bodies on the floor. He grimaced at the sight, but he tried not to let Mino see his disgust. He glanced at the other man for a second, trying very hard not to imagine him having sex with anyone and he turned his gaze to the red drink in his hand.

“Do you have something you want to ask me?”

“I just...who with?” Seungyoon kept a frown from contorting his features and he remained placid. But he knew there was only so many options, either one of their team mates or a robot. Neither one would surprise him, looking at Mino.

A wicked smirk was forming on Mino’s lips and he bat his eyelashes suddenly. “Well with anyone who wants to,” he scooted a little closer, but then sighed. “Normally with Z, tho.”

Well,  _ that _ gave a mental image. One that had Seungyoon swallowing dryly and avoiding even looking at Mino or Z, who he had a clear view of, standing on the balcony across the room, chatting with a person with a yellow stripe of hair on their head. Mino - with his deep voice and his soft looking hands - had sex  _ every night _ with Z - the leader of this psychedelic entourage, with his eyepatch and his gruff personality. It was insane.

Unable to stop himself, Seungyoon barked out a laugh. It was almost mocking, but when he looked at Mino and saw his serious expression, he burst out laughing shamelessly. “For real?” he gaped.

“Of course, he’s huge,” Mino rolled his eyes.

“I mean...he’s no taller than Reaper or Rex..or even 1AM, I guess,” Seungyoon shrugged.

More shrill laughter than he could have expected from Mino escaped the man’s mouth and he took a large drink from his red...something. “Not height, dumbass. His dick.”

Seungyoon’s cheeks burned red, he found words impossible to pronounce as he stuttered over a response. “I-I... well, I-I didn’t... I thought... Well, you s-said...”

“It’s okay, kid. Here drink this,” Mino chuckled, handing him the glass of bubbling red liquid. It looked like molten lava and Seungyoon chugged it, hoping it’d have the same effect. It did not.

It tasted suspiciously of bananas and had a cooling sensation as it slipped down his throat. He frowned down at it, surprised by how good it was. But he quickly handed it back to Mino, unsure of what kind of effects it would have on his body. He didn’t want to end up like Joker, who was currently twerking against a pillar.

This was turning out to be a disaster.

When Mino and Blockbuster finally rounded everyone up to push them out the door, Blockbuster looked a little worse for wear as he helped tug Joker outside. As soon as the whole team was outside, Seungyoon could get a better look at the planet. They walked across the muddy ground, heading for one of the smaller buildings, that was just as thick and dark as the others. It was hard to tell them apart, but Blockbuster at least knew where they were going.

Seungyoon felt hands push him into the building, the dim lighting inside was a welcome contrast to the last building they’d walked into. The warm yellow toned lights reminded him somewhat of the way the homes on 7382-NX were lit, it felt comfortable to him as he walked further into the building. He was surprised to see a small table and couch and what almost looked like a TV hanging on the wall.

“You can stay here tonight,” Blockbuster announced, almost proudly and Seungyoon’s eyes widened as he looked at him.

“Is this...your home?”

“Well,” Blockbuster scratched at the back of his head nervously. “I mean it’s the house I’ve been assigned here. But it’s not quite home,” he chuckled.

“Oh, well, it’s nice.”

“Don’t suck up just yet,” the orange haired man gave a short bark of laughter as he led Seungyoon down a hallway into a room that was much smaller than he was expecting, but it was sleepable. “You can sleep in here.”

“Thank you,” Seungyoon bowed a little.

He gave him a smile and patted his elbow. “If you need anything, I’m across the hall.”

Seungyoon watched him disappear out the door and he turned to look at the bedroom fully. There was a small bed with no frame on the ground in the corner and a small empty birdcage at the foot of the bed. A door for a closet was set into the wall, but when Seungyoon tried to tug it open it didn’t budge.

Another door was next to the main one and he carefully opened it. He was relieved to find that on the other side of the door was a bathroom and thankfully - a shower. He quickly slipped in and tugged his clothes off. They felt too heavy and grimy, so he kicked them to the side and tapped the hot water button, watching the steam billow out from behind the shower door.

He had never felt so much relief at the sight of steam before and he carefully tiptoed into the shower, feeling the hot water pour down on to his back. He closed his eyes and submerged himself under the water, letting it trickle over his head and down his sore body. Turns out riding in the corner of a spaceship caused all sorts of unknown cramps to form in your muscles.

The pleasant temperature didn’t last long and halfway through rubbing soap into his hair, the water turned bitterly lukewarm and Seungyoon cursed under his breath.

_ At least it’s not cold _ , he thought to himself, putting his head under to rub the soap away.

He spoke too soon, he realized as the water grew colder and colder by the second, eventually it was almost icy as he tried to scrub the dirt from his skin. What the hell kind of place only had hot water for two minutes? His mood had plummeted to misery as he stepped out of the cold water cavern and reached for a towel. There was none.

“Fuck!” he hissed, running his hands through his wet hair.

He had just a few options. Go out ass naked and try to wrestle a towel from Blockbuster, or air dry his body and then wrap himself in the blanket off the bed... neither sounded great as he felt goosebumps form on his skin. This wasn’t ideal.

But he decided on the later and slowly waved his body back and forth to try to shake the cold water droplets off. Eventually, he deemed his body dry enough and he grabbed the blanket, securing it around his shivering body as he tiptoed out of the room.

“Blockbuster?” he called carefully, his voice quiet. “Hey Block?”

There was no noise anywhere in the house and the lights were out, leaving it difficult to see as he went back into the sitting area where they’d first come in. There was a little nook in the wall that he hadn’t noticed before, it looked almost like a mail slot but as he got closer, he noticed a dim screen on the wall above it that had a variety of what seemed to be food options, although none of it was anything he was familiar with.

He moved back towards his room, remembering that Blockbuster had said his room was right across the hall. The silence in the dark house was starting to unnerve him and he found himself desperate for the presence of another person. He knocked gently on the door across from his and upon finding no answer, he felt it was okay to open the door.

Carefully, but surely, he pushed the door open.

Inside was dark, even darker than the rest of the house, pitch black even. The only difference was the light from a screen illuminating Blockbuster’s figure. He was so skinny, Seungyoon realized that now that he saw him in plain clothes, out of his usual uniform. He was wearing a plain black jumpsuit that hugged his figure, if it weren’t for his clothing choice, Seungyoon never would have noticed it.

The long cord that seemed to be attached to Blockbuster’s arm, it looked almost like a needle that was shoved into his arm, like Seungyoon had had at the hospital when he was young. But this was different. He carefully approached.  _ Just ask for a towel and go _ .

He wanted to call his name, but for some reason that felt wrong to do in this dark room, it felt wrong to speak, as if words were unknown to these shadows. The shape of the man in front of him was the only thing that seemed realistic as he got closer. He decided against reaching out and touching him, instead he simply leaned around to look at his face, hoping to get his attention.

He almost fell back in surprise at the sight of him. Blockbuster had had big eyes before, but this was different, his eyes were almost being pried open with small metal clasps, holding his lids wide. His mouth was wide open in what seemed to be shock, but it was more like it was frozen like that, a small trail of drool had started to make its way down his chin. His skin was an uncomfortable greyish color and as Seungyoon stared at him, he felt a chill run down his spine.

“B-Block...” he couldn’t form the word for some reason and as he started to get closer, Blockbuster’s eyeball moved - just the one - and focused on Seungyoon. He cried out in shock and took a sudden step back, his ankle meeting some sort of large hard drive box on the floor. He lost his balance and crashed onto the floor. When he looked back up, Blockbuster was no longer looking at him, but his body had started to quiver, as if he was having a seizure of some sort.

From the ground, Seungyoon had a better look at the cord connected to the man’s arm. It was thick and black and at the tip of it was an ugly looking claw, that was embedded into Blockbuster’s skin. Tiny shocks of static were surrounding the claw, they looked like they were feeding into Blockbuster, as if he was absorbing the electricity.

“ _ Seungyoon... _ ” Blockbuster’s voice seemed to fill his mind, in a velvety haze and he felt himself go dizzy. His eyes felt so heavy and they started to roll back. Before his head hit the ground, he saw the shape of a man in the doorway...

_ Block...? _

 

* * *

 

 

When Seungyoon awoke he felt the front of his head begin to throb and he frowned as he sat up, trying to remember where he was. It all started to come back to him, most prominently the image of Blockbuster’s gaunt face staring at him in the dark. He shot up out of the bed he was in, feeling his skin beginning to crawl at the memory. He was...wearing pajamas...and in bed in the room Blockbuster had let him use.

_ When did I get here? _

The last thing he could remember was passing out on Blockbuster’s bedroom floor, the vague memory of a figure looming over him and the orange haired man’s voice lilting in his ear, calling his name. It felt like a nightmare, but he was almost positive it was real. He tried to shake it from his head.

He went to collect his discarded clothes from the bathroom, he was sure he’d left them there after his shower, but they were nowhere to be found. Feeling unnerved, he went out into the sitting room, almost afraid of seeing Blockbuster.

The other man was sitting on the couch, with some sort of news station in a language Seungyoon couldn’t understand playing on the TV. He didn’t want to catch his attention, so he carefully tiptoed past, but Blockbuster spoke calmly as Seungyoon went past, making him jump.

“Your clothes are on the line drying, I cleaned them this morning. And feel free to get some breakfast,” he gestured at the small nook in the wall, which must have been some kind of food replicator. Blockbuster’s voice was nonchalant, it made Seungyoon question whether or not he had been dreaming last night or not.

“Thanks,” he murmured awkwardly, going in search of his clothes.

“Did you sleep well?” Blockbuster turned to look at him. Seungyoon flinched, expecting to see large sunken eyes and grey coloured skin. But he looked normal, his eyes were their usual size and his skin was the usual golden colour. He gave him a soft smile as he looked up at him.

“Uhh,” Seungyoon tried to remember the question. “Yeah.”

He quickly crept down the hall once more, looking around for a line.

“Outside,” Blockbuster’s voice called after him.

_ Right _ .

Seungyoon went out the front door, expecting to see sunshine and a morning crowd of villagers, but the sky barely looked any different from when they’d first arrived. The skies were a deep purple and the moons were still doing their little dance around each other. He watched them in fascination for a moment, before looking around for some sort of clothes line. He spotted his uniform hanging on a rope that was tied onto the lightpost next to Blockbuster’s house, he followed the other end and saw it was tied to a tall pole, what must have been electric or something.

He felt his clothes, satisfied to find that they were dry and somewhat warm. He took them down and took one more look around the village, before heading inside. Everything was eerily quiet here, especially in contrast to the club they’d entered when they first landed. He wondered where everyone else went, surely if Joker was anywhere nearby, it couldn’t be this quiet.

Dashing back inside, he went back to the bedroom to change back into his uniform. Still confused as to when he got into this pajama set, the bottoms were long soft red cotton and the shirt was a white mesh of sorts. He was quick to cast it aside, eager to slip into the comfort of his uniform. It was familiar, it was secure and kept him from getting distracted by his surroundings.

“Yoon-ah!” Blockbuster called, knocking on the room door. Seungyoon jumped, tugging his jacket on tight. “Let’s go, Z sent a message. We gotta move.”

Seungyoon sighed and stepped away from the mirror, turning to open the door. The sight of Blockbuster still made him momentarily flinch, but he didn’t think too much of it.  _ It was just a bad dream, Seungyoon _ . He managed to convince himself.

“Yeah, sure. Let me get my shoes,” he agreed. He didn’t want to leave this planet, not because he liked it here, but because it was better than being trapped in the ship with Joker and 1AM breathing down his neck.

He tugged his boots on, watching as Blockbuster stretched his arms above his head, looking relatively normal as he walked towards the door. Everything about him just seemed so ordinary as he opened the door and waited for Seungyoon to finish up.

As the soldier rose to his feet and approached him, Blockbuster gave a gentle smile and walked out onto the dirt outside, his boots sinking in a little. Seungyoon stared at the mud underfoot as he followed him outside, letting the door close behind them. The ground was soft, as if wet, but there was no water, just dew making it tender.

“What time is it?” Seungyoon asked, toeing at a rock on the ground.

“Early morning-ish,” Blockbuster shrugged. “Why?”

Seungyoon watched the moons slow and a silver color start to peek through the sky. He frowned up at it. “Just looks different, is all.”

The orange haired man tilted his head back, looking up at the sky as clouds rolled through. Concern flashed on his face for just a second, before he looked back and gave Seungyoon a forced smile. “Changing of the seasons.”

Unsure how much he could believe him at this point, but unwilling to question it, Seungyoon followed him across the mud, towards where they had parked the ship. Z was leaning against the door to the ship, picking at his nails. He looked utterly bored, but at least he was wearing clean clothes.

“You clean up nicely,” Blockbuster greeted in a teasing voice.

“Oh yeah?” Z sneered. “You look like shit.”

This seemed to be a norm for them, as they both simply smirked and highfived as they waited for the other members to come join, Seungyoon suddenly felt like the odd one out as they struck up a conversation in the same language that had been on the TV. One that he didn’t understand a word of.

Trying his best not to lose his mind, Seungyoon kept poking at rocks and plants in the ground as each of their teammates slowly gathered around. Eventually they had everyone, Mino was the last to arrive, looking sleepy but otherwise unbothered. Z swallowed his frustration at the sight of his...friend.

Seungyoon followed behind as they all piled back into the ship, it felt even more cramped after spending so much time out in the open. He settled into his usual corner, this time standing, he didn’t want to be crowded while sitting on the ground. That didn’t work well for him last time.

As Ponyboy settled into his seat at the front, Seungyoon watched as Z walked up to whisper something in his ear, before turning to throw a look at Reaper. The other man gave him a knowing nod and then they each took a seat. There was something about those three that unsettled Seungyoon, he couldn’t be sure what it was, but he knew he wanted to get to the bottom of it before long. 

He thought about asking Blockbuster but something about when he looked over at him, he found it difficult to get the image from his dream out of his head.  _ Maybe I’ll ask someone else,  _ he decided.

Rex was leaning on the wall behind him so he swiveled around in his seat to face the other man. “Hey, Rex,” he drew the man’s attention. “Why are Z and Reaper always whispering?”

His eyes widened for a moment before he opened his mouth to answer. However Eomma interjected before Rex could get a sound out. “Some things are best kept secret, don’t you think?”

“I just feel like as a team, we should all communicate. Besides what could they possibly hide that we shouldn’t know?” Seungyoon shrugged, not sure where his confidence was coming from.

As soon as the words left Seungyoon’s mouth, Eomma’s hand was gripping his collar and shoving him against the wall. “Stop asking questions,” he hissed. “If you know what’s good for you.”

It sounded suspiciously like a threat, which triggered something stubborn and prideful in Seungyoon. He had been trying so hard to keep his mouth shut since he came here, but he was getting tired of it very quickly.

“Some cute nickname doesn’t make you my mother,” he scoffed.

Eomma’s eyes narrowed at him. “Shut your damn mouth, kid.”

“Or what? You’ll make me clean my room?”

He released his collar, staring him down from inches away. Eomma took a step back, turning to look at Rex, who was staring at the ground, as if pretending he wasn’t aware of the situation. “Some attitude you’ve got,” he growled between his teeth. “It would serve you well to lose it.”

Seungyoon rolled his eyes. “You don’t scare me, you’ve been hiding behind Rex since I got here... there’s nothing to be afraid of when it comes to cowards.”

Bad idea, Seungyoon quickly learned. The second the word ‘coward’ left his mouth, Eomma hauled around and slapped him across the face, his palm bringing much more force than Seungyoon realized any one person could hold. It was hard enough to bruise instantaneously and probably remove a few hair follicles as his head bounced off the wall behind him.

He had been slapped many times in his life, mostly from his mother or from superiors. Never once had he fought back or retaliated...till now. He pulled his fist back, a little disoriented still and launched it forwards, aiming for Eomma’s face.

Rex’s hand moved fast than anything he’d ever seen as he caught Seungyoon’s fist and shoved it back towards him, throwing Seungyoon back against the wall. The younger’s eyes were full of fire as he pressed Seungyoon’s own arm against his throat, holding him there for a second.

“Don’t even think about it,” Rex’s tone was low as he pressed close so only Seungyoon could hear him. “I wouldn’t hesitate to throw you out the airlock, you bastard.”

Seungyoon blinked at him, his voice raising a little so he could be heard. “Fuck. What great teamwork you all have, threatening, harassing and  _ bullying _ the new guy. Wow, I see why you’re at the top of the ranks of the Republic.”

All at once, each member of the team started to react, anger the primary emotion on most of their faces. Joker cackled quietly, before going back to fiddling with his gun.

“You’re kidding me,” Eomma muttered, shaking his head. “You’re a child.”

“And you’re all assholes.”

1AM stood up to lunge at Seungyoon, who tried to dodge him. Eomma stepped back, allowing them the space to fight. He obviously had no desire to stop them.

A grip was in Seungyoon’s hair, tugging fiercely and he threw a blind punch towards the first gut he saw, which was thankfully 1AM’s. As he landed blow after blow into the other man’s stomach, he was shocked to find how resilient he was. 1AM threw a knee into Seungyoon’s stomach, making him wheeze.

In the blink of an eye, a hand was on each of their collars, tearing them apart. Being wrenched apart, Seungyoon was almost grateful, but he was also pissed that someone was intervening. He’d just have to kick the shit out of them also. When Seungyoon looked up, he was faced with Z’s glowering eye, the grip on his collar was firm.

“Grow the fuck up,” his voice was quiet, but stern.

Unable to find a response, Seungyoon simply looked down. He couldn't retaliate against Z and he wasn’t sure why. When he finally released them, he slapped them both on the back of the head. 

Seungyoon watched him walk over to sit in the corner once more, lowering his head back into his hands. He suddenly looked too young and too afraid to be in charge, it made Seungyoon’s skin tingle. He felt a shiver run down his spine, so he looked away, finding his gaze meeting Mino’s, which was fierce. No decisive emotions were in the other man’s eyes, it was just a burning hot stare that made Seungyoon want to throw up.

_ How the fuck did I end up here? _ For once in his life, he wished to be back at the KSA.

 

* * *

 

 

When the ship finally landed, they all filed off carefully, so as not to start another fight. As soon as their feet touched solid ground, Blockbuster withdrew a tablet from his jacket and tapped the screen. “Looks like this mission’s a small one,” he sighed, sounding utterly bored. “We just need to go to the Town Centre and find the mayor. Apparently he’s been illegally trading weapons under the Town Hall, which is located...about 1 and a half kilometres from here. We best start walking.”

The planet they found themselves on looked suspiciously like the kind of town Seungyoon had seen on TV when he was younger. It was all white picket fences and houses that looked like blocks, made of ugly tan stucco. The sun was tinted green and cast a hideous lighting on everything. All in all, the planet looked very plain and exactly the kind of planet where a fat rich mayor would put the town’s people’s money to use buying himself weapons that he didn’t need.

They walked the streets in silence, flags quivered and fountains trickled, still no sound coming from the town. It looked fake. More than fake. Seungyoon squinted at one house that almost seemed to be shaking with fear under his gaze. It was as if there was something in his eye that he couldn’t move. Everything just looked wrong.

“Is it just me, or...?” Blockbuster drifted off.

1AM finished his thought. “This place is weird.”

What must have been the town square came into view and they walked a little slower, cautiously, as if there would be something waiting around every corner. The town square looked almost deserted, the lack of life was eerie and made Seungyoon wonder if the residents had heard they were coming and bugged out. Maybe they were too late.

A fountain stood probably 5 meters tall, towering over all of them and the surrounding houses. It was a carving of two bird like creatures, who were intertwined at the tail, the water trickling out of the tips of their wings. He couldn’t help but think that must be what the people of this planet look like, but that thought was discarded as he looked up to see a very pale being run across the street and duck into one of the houses, slamming the door shut behind them.

“Whoa!” he pointed. “Did you guys see that?”

Reaper was already raising his gun and holding it next to his head, his other hand hovering closer to the trigger as he stared at the door that the person had disappeared into.

“Yeah,” Z murmured, approaching the house. His steps were slow and as Mino called out for him to be careful, he waved his hand, dismissing the idea. He wasn’t the cautious type. “Reaper, you’re with me. Block, grab the new guy and 1AM and spread out, see if you find anyone else. Ponyboy, run some scans. Everyone else, stay with Ponyboy, we can’t split up too much or else it’ll fuck with his scan.”

The soldiers obeyed his orders unquestionably, with the exception of Seungyoon, who grumbled  about being paired with the pretty boy. He had had enough of 1AM and Joker’s shenanigans, although he was grateful that Blockbuster was with them. He was the only person who had defended Seungyoon as of yet, even if Seungyoon was slightly haunted after spending the night in his house.

He followed the redhead closely, not wanting to be stuck next to 1AM, who was taking his sweet time following after them, he was kicking at rocks and whistling to himself. Seungyoon glanced at Blockbuster, who was moving warily, stopping to look around buildings before he continued.

As they further and further from the fountain, the more Seungyoon felt uneasy. This town was weird to begin with, but it was just getting weirder. There was a large building just a few blocks ahead and they couldn’t really make it out between all of the houses and shops. They walked a little closer until they had a decent view of it. It was an ornately made building, with pillars bracing up the large archway entrance. 

Seungyoon turned his head and looked closer at it. “Town hall?” he suggested, looking to Block.

The other man nodded. “We can only assume. 1AM, stay here with Seungyoon. Do not go inside that building, I’m gonna go get Z.”

Before they could respond, Blockbuster was disappearing back through the streets, moving faster than they had on the way here. It was awkwardly quiet, 1AM just staring up at the building, while Seungyoon glowered at him. There was nothing to be said anyways.

“Well,” 1AM suddenly spoke, turning to meet Seungyoon’s gaze, which was diverted as soon as eye contact was made. “Let’s go in.”

Seungyoon guffawed, shaking his head. “Block said don’t.”

“Eh, he’s not in charge. And besides, if we all go bursting in there and it’s empty, Z’s gonna  be mad that we wasted his time. And trust me, you - do - not - want to see him mad,” he emphasized these words with a sense of urgency that made Seungyoon agree.

He really didn’t.

1AM was already crossing the street, heading directly towards the building and - not wanting to be the idiot to explain why he was alone - Seungyoon ran after him. He hissed under his breath something about not obeying orders, he grudgingly stuck behind 1AM as they climbed the front steps to the building.

The doors before them were tall and appeared to be made of an old wood. 1AM did not hesitate in pushing them open, reaching behind him to grab onto Seungyoon and drag him with him. The inside of the building was nearly pitch black and it took their eyes awhile to adjust to the dull pulsing light on the wall all the way to the left. It looked almost like a torch, but it wasn’t fire, it was just an orb set into the wall.

“Gross,” 1AM’s nose wrinkled as he observed their surroundings. 

The ground beneath their feet was an old stone and there was dust covering everything, there was a large curtain directly in front of them, no doubt hiding something. Everything seemed to be hundreds of years old and as they walked further in, a rat ran across the ground in front of them. 1AM reacted by pointing his gun at the creature, but he didn’t shoot thankfully.

Seungyoon heard something faintly and he put a hand on 1AM’s shoulder. 

“Don’t fucking touch me,” the other growled, but Seungyoon put his finger to his lips. 

“Shut up! Listen.”

_ There. _ Very quietly, as if in the distance, they could hear it. Voices of some sort, chanting almost. Their eyes widened at the same time and they exchanged a look.

“Fuck no,” 1AM groaned. “I don’t do cults, man.”

“We don’t know what it is yet,” Seungyoon scowled.

“It’s probably a cult.”

Seungyoon walked across the chamber and approached the large curtain, carefully leaning his head closer to listen. It was definitely louder over here. He sighed and rubbed at his temple. He didn’t really want to get mixed up in whatever was going on behind the curtain, but he knew it would be irresponsible to leave it alone.

“Come on,” he beckoned 1AM and gently pulled the curtain to the side.

Behind the curtain was a descending staircase that was even darker than the rest of the room, and it led down deep into the blackness. Seungyoon looked to 1AM and they both looked hesitant. But Seungyoon swallowed his concerns and slowly stepped onto the first stair. The chanting was even louder now and it made him want to turn and run the other direction, but he persisted.

With each step they took further into the dark, 1AM seemed to be going slower and slower. Seungyoon wondered at what point he would change his mind and run back to the outdoors.

A surprising amount of courage filled him as he made his way down the rest of the stairs, not checking to see if 1AM was behind him. If he came along, then he came along, if he didn’t, whatever. Seungyoon wasn’t going to let it stop him from getting to the bottom of this.

At the bottom of the stairs was a large stone cavern, that led out into a sort of bridge. The walls had massive holes in them, they looked down on an interesting scene. There was a warm glowing light coming from beneath the bridge and as Seungyoon crept over to one of the holes, a sort of window, he looked down towards the light.

He shouldn’t have been too surprised by what was happening below, but he opened and closed his mouth. There was probably a hundred people down there, all in some sort of red robe, standing by slabs of stone where dead animals were laid out. It was a grotesque scene that Seungyoon wished he could look away from, but the chanting was louder than ever in here and he was almost mesmerized. 

Each cloaked figure was swaying back and forth, assumedly offering their sacrifices to...someone. Seungyoon looked to the the front of the crowd and saw what appeared to be a stage, there was a gold ornately designed chair - a throne, he assumed. Sitting on the throne, was a being in a flowing black robe. Their hair was a darker black than the robe and spread out across the back of the throne, flowing down to the floor almost. They looked imposing, but Seungyoon couldn’t help but snort. _ That’s _ who they’re worshipping? He couldn’t help but wonder.

He turned to look for some sort of way to get down there, but he bumped into a figure and he shouted out in surprise, the figure letting out some sort of scream. He reached his hand up to cover his own mouth, seeing his actions mirrored in the person in front of him. It was 1AM, of course. The idiot had been behind him the whole time.

“Shhh!” Seungyoon tried to cover 1AM’s mouth as he was now gasping for breath and trying to form words at the same time, after having the life frightened out of him. “You idiot!”

They wrestled for a moment, trying to shush the other, however a terrifying realization hit them both at the same time. 

“They-”

“-Stopped chanting,” Seungyoon finished and both of them looked down at the same time to see every cloaked head staring up at them.

“Fuck! Run!” 1AM squealed and bolted for the stairs, but there was suddenly three people in red robes similar to those below standing on the staircase.

Seungyoon grabbed onto 1AM’s collar and pulled him close to him, ready to defend himself if need be. The figures moved closer as voices below shouted in an unintelligible language. 1AM was reaching for his gun, but his hands were shaking and fumbling too much.

“Give it here,” Seungyoon sneered, reaching for it.

In his haste to throw the gun to Seungyoon, 1AM dropped it. His whole frame was shaking in panic and he dove for the weapon.  _ Bad idea _ . As soon as he was on the ground, one of the figures kicked out a foot and caught him in the side, throwing him onto the ground on his side. Seungyoon reached out to pull 1AM out of danger, but there were already hands reaching for him, trying to grab onto his clothes and tug him out of Seungyoon’s reach.

“Roll!” he instructed and 1AM did as he was told, rolling closer to Seungyoon, who stepped over him as he was moving. He was now closer enough to the figures to throw out an arm and catch one in the throat, pulling them off their feet and tipping them sideways. Once he had them under his arm, their balance upset, he kneed them in the side and threw them to the ground.

1AM seemed to be collecting himself. His true colors were showing and he was obviously embarrassed, but sheer determination was taking over and he grabbed ahold of the figure on the ground and somehow managed to fling their body through one of the holes in the side of the bridge. A faint scream could be heard as they plummeted 10 meters to the ground.

Seungyoon was momentarily impressed with 1AM’s tactics, but as he watched the other two figures pause as they watched their companion be thrown over, 1AM took the opportunity to bolt past them and up the stairs. They started to go after him, but Seungyoon reached out and grabbed their cloaks, tugging them back.

Their hoods fell off as they stumbled into Seungyoon and he briefly got a glimpse of pale white skin, it looked cracked and greyed and the eyes were a piercing black, widening as they both shrieked in what appeared to be mortification.

He was shocked, but knew he didn’t have long before they would recover, so he dove for 1AM’s abandoned gun, knowing that he wouldn’t come back for it anytime soon. He hoisted the weapon up, but it wasn’t until he was pointing it at them, that he realized he was unfamiliar with this type of gun. It was not the KSA’s regular issued weapon. Where had 1AM even gotten it?

His thoughts had clouded his mind for a moment too long and he looked up to see a club strike him between the eyes, a cloaked arm moving to block his vision. The blow had enough force behind it that he quickly lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

 

When h e finally came to, he felt like his entire body was just way too hot. It was unnaturally warm and it felt like he was in an oven. He slowly opened his eyes, a faint red glow was filling his peripheral vision and as his eyes focused, he found himself looking up at a wooden ceiling. An old mural was painted into the wood and it looked a little like some kind of cherub baby was touching the foreheads of average folk, the ones he’d already touched were glowing and white. Pure, almost.

He also realized that someone was talking, loudly. He closed his eyes again, wanting to push away the voices occupying his mind. It was too much. What were they even saying? He tried to focus a little more on the words, but it was all gibberish to him. Although there was a slight rhythm to them as if they were...chanting.

_ Oh fuck. _

He remembered where he last was and his eyes flew open once more, he tried to turn his head, but it ached too much for any sudden movements. He realized now that he was lying on a stone block, the bumps and grooves in the rock was pressing into his back. It was all coming to him at once as he realized that he had been stripped naked and was now tied down to the stone with a coarse kind of rope that was rubbing his wrists and ankles raw.

He could see the figures all around him, draped in red robes and swaying back and forth, chanting some kind of prayer or offering or whatever. He wanted to tell them to stop, but there was a language barrier that he knew it was useless trying to fight against.

If he craned his head back enough, he could look in front of him, to where he could view the person on the throne. The dictator or god, of sorts. They looked so casual, lounging on their seat. Their hair framed their pale face, the gauntness of their features was visible now and so was their pitch black eyes, which were gliding easily over the crowd of people. They looked pleased.

_ Well, now I die. _ Was all Seungyoon could think. He could view the bridge from where he was and it looked so far away, so high up. He remembered last seeing 1AM running away up the stairs. He probably had gotten back to the team already, they had probably been relieved to learn that he’d managed to lose the new guy. They probably left already...

He knew he had to accept his fate, but with the amount of heat that was radiating from somewhere nearby, Seungyoon realized now that his biggest fear was being burned alive. Being offered as a sacrifice to some kind of freak with a lot of hair and being burned while still alive and kicking. It was a horrific thought, but it gave him enough determination to live to start kicking while he still could.

“Wait, please!” he begged the closest person, who looked at him, disgusted and went back to chanting. They were clearly disinterested by their captive’s prattling.

“You can’t do this! I’m a soldier, the KSA will investigate my disappearance!” he was spouting nonsense and he knew it, there was no way the KSA would care enough about one soldier’s death to ever look into it.

“My team! I have a team, they’ll come looking for me!” he knew that was false as well, he hadn’t been particularly nice to any of them, and they hadn’t shown any interest in keeping him with them. So why would they come back for him?

“Please, I have a family!” the biggest lie of them all, he realized.

He felt almost ridiculous, coming up with things to plead for, but he knew that they didn’t understand a word he was saying, so there was really no use. But it didn’t hurt to try. Except it kinda did.

The more he thrashed about and begged, it seemed, the tighter the rope got. It was actually starting to cut into his skin now and he felt regretful for moving around so much.

He had always envisioned himself dying comfortably. He wanted to have a quick death that didn’t involve being thrown into a fire or whatever, that didn’t involve being tied down to a hot rock, ass naked and ready to be sacrificed. He thought he’d die in his sleep of old age, or by sudden impact, something instant and painless. That’s what he’d always hoped for. Not this.

Maybe if he could fall asleep, he wouldn’t feel any of it. He could pretend that it was the quick and painless death he’d always hoped for. He closed his eyes, squeezed them shut. Any minute now, he would be sound asleep while they were sacrificing him.

The chanting was getting louder and louder and faster and he felt the rock he was laid down on start to lift. He kept his eyes shut.  _ Just fall asleep, just go to sleep. _ He tried to ignore the screech of metal on metal as some sort of crane was lifting the stone. He tried to ignore the chanting, and the heat and all of his surroundings.  _ You won’t even feel it. _

There was no chance he would fall asleep, and he knew that. But he really really wanted to try.

Suddenly the chanting stopped, and more than his determination to sleep, but also fear kept him from opening his eyes. He was probably over the fire now, the pit that led down to...god knows where. A blood curdling scream erupted through the air and shortly after, several other shouts and screams were joined in, as well as a clattering.

_ Don’t look. _ He told himself.

There was a loud shout, that sounded suspiciously like “look out!” and Seungyoon’s eyes slowly cracked open. He was faced with a view of the ceiling once more, but much closer this time and he realized he must be about 12 meters up in the air. He didn’t want to think about looking over the edge, but also he  _ needed _ to know what was going on down there.

He slowly started to lift his head, but he was still strapped to the stone, there was no hope of moving right now. The crane device above him looked ancient and he was suddenly faced with the fear of it breaking, or the straps made of the coarse rope that was holding the stone snapping. He would plummet to his death. Naked and alone. 

The sound of an all out brawl was filling the cavern and he realized he had to look, no matter what. So he tried to wriggle as much as he could, now that there was no one to hold the rope down, it was a little looser than before. He managed to get one hand out and he used it to immediately tug at the one across his chest.

It took much more force than he expected, but he tore the bonds off of his chest and other hand and he now had enough freedom to look over the edge of the slab. All the way down on the ground, was the scene of countless bodies, thrown to the ground, no doubt dead. On the stage type platform, stood Z, holding a giant spear to the throned person’s head. Reaper and Eomma stood on either side of him, facing the crowd, guns drawn.

Joker was standing on the ground by the platform, his jumpsuit covered in some kind of orangish blood, which Seungyoon now realized was oozing out of the bodies that littered the room. There were still some of the red cloaked figures alive, they were pleading with Z it seemed in their own tongue, Seungyoon was unable to understand a single word.

Z seemed to be fluent though, as he was responding with a vicious tone to each word. As he spoke, he inched the spear closer to the head of the silent leader in the chair. Before Seungyoon could call out to one of them, he felt the crane that was holding his stone start to shiver and move again.

In fear, he sprawled out across it and held on for dear life. It swung slightly for a moment, almost throwing Seungyoon off, if it weren’t for his feet and waist still strapped down. It was moving over towards the bridge and for one long terrifying minute, Seungyoon wondered if it was going to crash.

He was going to be crushed between the stone slab and the old stone bridge. He was going to be squashed to death. He thought about risking a jump down, but he knew that was unrealistic. As it inched closer and closer, he felt a panic attack start in, about to take over his whole body.

“Hey Yoonie,” came a soft voice calling to him.

He risked moving over to peer off the stone slab. Standing on the bridge, only five meters away was Mino, with a brilliant and triumphant smile. His arms were outstretched as the rock was slowly lowered close enough to him to reach Seungyoon.

Shakily, the bare soldier leapt into Mino’s arms, knocking him over and just barely making it onto the bridge. The second he hit the ground, he felt his arms and legs go numb and give way beneath him. His fear was slowly starting to subside as he was wrapped in someone’s coat. When he looked up he saw Ponyboy was standing in his undershirt, his jumpsuit tied around his waist and his eyes avoiding looking at Seungyoon.

“Come on,” Mino spoke soothingly and tried to help Seungyoon up.

“Wait,” he pulled from Mino and went to look down to the cavern below. Z was walking away from the platform, Joker, Eomma and Reaper in tow. On the throne, slumped, was the once satisfied and now dead leader of the cult. Orange liquid was spurting from their forehead, where Z’s spear was imbedded down to the shaft.

Seungyoon looked away, trying not to get nauseous.

“Let’s go,” Mino murmured, pulling him away.

 

* * *

 

 

Once they had gotten safely back on the ship, Seungyoon felt his body completely give in to the exhaustion that was filling his bones and he passed out in a corner on the floor. He finally awoke to find himself in a bed, confused as to when he’d gotten there, but not complaining. He was dressed in a warm set of what looked like pajamas and he almost wanted to go back to sleep. But he needed answers.

He looked around the room, shocked to see Z standing in the corner of the room, he was resting his elbow against a panel that was set into the wall, a screen showed a false outdoors, imitating a window. The curtains that covered it were a soft blue color and Seungyoon wondered where this room was.

“I didn’t...” he swallowed and carefully chose his next words, his throat was dry and protesting speaking at all, but he felt the need to anyways. “I didn’t think you’d come back for me.”

Z simply cackled in response, not moving or reacting in any other manner. It made Seungyoon feel frustrated, but he figured he’d try again. He just wanted something from him, why did he always have to make it so hard? He acted callous and cold but then he saved the life of someone who he pretended to not care about at all? Why?

“I thought you’d leave me for dead.”

“But we didn’t.”

“No...you didn’t,” Seungyoon moved his hands into his lap, staring down at his hands which looked a lot cleaner and softer than they had in a long time. The dark brown blanket that was secured around him felt good against his skin. He smoothed it out with his hands. “Why?”

There was a moment where Seungyoon thought Z would just walk away without answering. Seungyoon dreaded it actually, the idea of it frustrated him more than anything. But Z stayed. He slowly turned and moved closer to the bed, the limited space in the room made Seungyoon start to lean back, afraid that Z would get too close.

“Why are you pulling away? What is there to hide?” it was eerily like he’d read his mind, as he lowered himself onto the bed. His weight was less than Seungyoon expected and he felt less inclined to pull away suddenly.

Z reached out a hand, his eye was scanning Seungyoon’s face, as if determining what was underneath, what was going on in his mind. It was almost terrifying, but strangely comforting as well. He wanted to meet Z’s hand halfway, he wanted to grab it and press it to his cheek, he wanted to put his head into the hand and let it hold him. But he also wanted to push it away.

He did neither. He simply held still while the hand came to him.

Once his fingertips met Seungyoon’s cheek, Z blinked and almost shuddered as his hand slid over Seungyoon’s jaw. It was uncomfortably familiar to when Joker had done this same thing to him, but it was so much more gentle and almost caring. Z’s thumb slid across Seungyoon’s plush bottom lip for a second, before he pulled it away and blinked at the soldier.

“The leader of the cult was the mayor. He had been collecting weapons to use for his Armageddon, which was apparently what all of that was. That girl who we saw on the streets, she said most of the town was under the hall, preparing for the mayor’s end of the world... we showed up just in time,” he was speaking with a monotone voice, not looking at or facing Seungyoon. “1AM came to get us and helped us find you. I’m just glad we all made it out in one piece.”

Z was rising to his feet and Seungyoon opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t even know what. Apart of him didn’t want him to go, but he told himself he just didn’t want to be alone...

“Seungyoon,” Z said his name so tenderly and it made Seungyoon swallow slowly. But when Z turned to look at him, his eye was fierce and angry. “Don’t disobey me ever again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to hear what y'all think <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI I know it's been over a month since my last update and I apologize but hnnfghfh I've been busy I guess (ᗒᗩᗕ)
> 
> Anyways! I hope you enjoy this chapter, even tho it is a little shorter than the others... my bad.
> 
> TW// sexual content, murder dream sequence??, exposition(? is that even a tw...idk but there's some boring parts so there you go)

_ Seungyoon... never disobey me again. _

The words had been haunting Seungyoon for hours and he couldn’t shake them. Something was bothering him about them, more than just the usual irritation of being told what to do. Something was making him...uneasy.

_ Seungyoon... never disobey me again. _

Was he his child? Who was he to tell him what to do? Superior or not, he had sworn an oath to the KSA not to this... one eyed micromanaging freak. And if they were going to blatantly disregard the rules, why couldn’t Seungyoon do the same?

The thing that was bothering him most was 1AM, he had saved his life and yet Seungyoon was the one that had gotten in trouble. It seemed unfair to him.  _ Never disobey me again. _

_ Seungyoon.. never- _

His eyes flew open, his head whirling. How did he know his name? Since he first arrived, he had been introduced and known as Yoon only. Blockbuster was the only person who knew his full name, and he didn’t seem the type to go around exposing others.

Unless...

The way he said his name had seemed so familiar and as he rolled over on his bed, he realized why. That dream he’d had in Blockbuster’s room when he’d started to pass out, the voice calling his name. It wasn’t Blockbuster. It was Z. Z had been the figure in the doorway. Z had been the one calling to him.

Which meant... he wasn’t crazy, it wasn’t a dream. It was real, and he wasn’t the only one there that night.

* * *

**-Z POV-**

_ “Jiho...hyung...please,” Jihoon croaked, his hands grasping at Jiho’s as he squeezed tighter. He was quickly losing color to his face, his fingernails digging into Jiho’s thumb. Blood piled where his nails punctured the rough skin. _

_ Jiho’s laugh was bitter and sharp. “I’m not your hyung,” he snarled, crushing the younger’s larynx. The look on Jihoon’s face made him chuckle to himself, it was kind of funny, to see the desperation and fear in his eyes. _

_ The boy’s lips were starting to purple and his eyes were bloodshot, they started to roll loosely, as if he was losing control of his body. It was perfect. Jiho held him in place, pressed against the water tank, the perspiration that was building on the metal was distracting, but Jiho didn’t lose sight of the task at hand. _

_ Jihoon’s feet kicked at Jiho’s knees as he pushed him further up the wall, holding the boy’s limp figure with his one arm. He watched the life drain from the face before him, the light die from his eyes as his body stopped twitching. Jiho wasn’t surprised by the one emotion filling him... pride. _

 

Jiho awoke in a sweat, his hands reaching out to grasp his sheets. He turned to look at the warm body next to his, Mino. He wanted to roll back over and hold onto him, let him ground him like he always did. But instead he reached to the nightstand and swiped up his eyepatch. He secured it onto his face, hearing the tiny whir as it clamped onto his skin via magnetic engineering.

His one constant in life was that his patch would always magnetize to the small metal frame that was embedded in the skin around his eye. He straightened it as he climbed out of bed. His head throbbing from his lack of sleep, but he paid it no mind. It was all too familiar, the nagging feeling of your body giving up on you. He knew it well.

A moment too soon, Mino was waking up and reaching for him, calling him back to bed. “My love,” his voice was still thick with sleep and Jiho considered pushing it away from his mind. He had too much to think of now.

“Come lie down,” Mino was calling.

He wanted to ignore him, he always wanted to ignore him. _Why should I lie with you?_ _What good have I done to deserve to lie with you?_ But he answered his call, as he always did. He turned his body back into the bed and relaxed his frame, falling into Mino’s arms per usual. His lover’s warmth was immeasurable as always. 

The strength of Mino’s arms trying to lull him back to sleep. His eyes shut, the last thing he heard was Mino’s soft voice promising to not let go of him as he slept. “I’ll be here when you wake.”

For the sake of his lover, he closed his eyes. He would pretend to rest for awhile now. Waiting until the soft rise and fall of Mino’s breathing suggested he was asleep, Jiho slipped out of bed once more. He had more important things to do than sleep.

Making his way silently down the halls of the  _ Kyungwon _ , he let his hand glide along the railing, feeling the hum of the ship beneath his fingertips.  _ His  _ ship. His precious ship. Finally he came to a stop outside of the door he was looking for. The plaque on the wall read  _ Blockbuster _ .

He carefully pressed the door buzzer, before pulling it open, announcing his arrival. He entered and looked through the dark at his left hand man. His body was laid across the bed, his eyes open wider than usual, his hands were clasped tight at his side. A long thin black cord was plugged into one arm, the other end of the cord extended to a little black box on the ground.

Jiho smirked as he got closer. “Kyung,” he nudged the bed. 

No response.

Reaching down, he twisted a dial on the black box, rescinding the power. Blockbuster gasped loudly as he started to come to. He blinked rapidly, a shock of blue electricity ran behind his eyes before he finally focused on Jiho.

“Are you ready to finish our tests?”

* * *

 

**-YOON POV-**

His legs were numbing as he walked, his hands slapping against the walls of the hallway, he felt like he was being dragged forwards. He didn’t know where he was anymore, he didn’t know how or when he got here. Last he knew he was in that strange room with Z and now he was in this hall, wandering down, watching each light flick past him, not stopping to notice each bulb was watching him.

There was no way he was still on their fighter vessel, he was sure of that. Halls as vast as this could not be easily hidden on that old ship. He slowed to examine his surroundings, the pajamas that he was wearing were thin to say the least and he was starting to get cold, goosebumps raising on his skin. A shiver rippled through his skin.

The flooring below his feet was cool to the touch, almost soft as he dragged his feet with another few steps. He came up to a door that was shut, a plaque screwed to the wall read something in English that he couldn’t quite understand. His parents had never taught him English, wanting him to focus on his Korean, Mandarin and Jentoth, knowing that they’d be the most useful for him in the KSA. 

He tried to make out what looked like a number to him, but the door opened in front of him and he jumped back to stare up at the face looking down at him. It was 1AM, a towel secured around his head, his eyes wide. His usual leer was gone, there was no glint in his eye, no malice. In fact he looked...awed.

“Yoon, are you okay?” he asked as Seungyoon stumbled away. “You don’t look well, shouldn’t you be in bed?”

He reached out, his hands looking like two cranes looming down to swoop him up and he wanted to swat them away. But there was a kindness to 1AM’s expression and it made him want to trust him, it made him feel a little less defensive. The hands came down and grabbed onto his pajama shirt, pulling him to his feet and dusting him off. 

“Let’s get you back to bed.”

“Where is this?” Seungyoon mumbled, his head was pounding.

“The ship,” 1AM said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“So there’s more than just that tiny bridge?” he wrinkled his nose.

1AM rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ignorant. Of course not,” he motioned down the hall, starting to help Seungyoon back towards his room. “The actual ship.”

“What?” Seungyoon knew he sounded stupid, but his mind was muddled with what was probably injected sleeping pills.

As they got further down the hall, Yoon leaned more and more on 1AM, relaxing his head on the other man’s shoulder. He was feeling weighed by exhaustion suddenly and he wondered just how long he’d been running on adrenaline alone.

“There was the fighter ship, which is our port vessel. We take that one for missions and stuff. But we spend most of our time on this one. The  _ Kyungwon _ .”

“ _ Kyungwon _ ?”

1AM smirked. “Back on Old Earth, Park Kyungwon was the first civilian woman to be a pilot. I don’t expect you’d know her. But Ponyboy will tell you all about her eventually.”

“Oh,” Seungyoon nodded. One was talking to him so...comfortably. He was using informal speech and was speaking to him like any other member of the team, like they were close. It was almost nice. A beeping came from somewhere above and Seungyoon looked up in shock.

“Hour change,” 1AM explained quickly, easing Seungyoon’s nerves. The other’s head was still tilted back and he was shocked when he felt a gentle finger brush his neck. He looked at 1AM in alarm and the man gave him a sheepish look. “I’m sorry about those,” he gestured to the skin he’d just touched.

Seungyoon didn’t need to feel to recall what 1AM meant, remembering the scratches that were left on his jaw from Joker’s cruel initiation.

“I should’ve stopped him,” 1AM sounded regretful and Seungyoon believed him.

“I can understand,” Yoon nodded a little. “Joker’s a dominant character, he likes to step on toes. I met a few of those in the academy. They’re hard to stand up to.”

Chewing on his lip, 1AM nodded before coming to a stop outside of the room Seungyoon had just left. “Here,” he tapped the plaque that read “ _ Yooni _ ” on the wall and it slid open. “Get some more rest.”

“Thanks,” Seungyoon murmured, feeling awkward now. It seemed strange to have 1AM being nice to him. 

“No,” the man was shaking his head, his eyes downcast. He was avoiding looking at Seungyoon. “I should be thankful. What you did back there... you saved my life. I’m grateful and I don’t know how to repay you..”

Seungyoon shrugged and looked up at 1AM, surprised to see him staring expectantly. “Oh, uhhh... just don’t be a dick to me anymore.”

1AM smirked, before agreeing. “I can do that.”

Maybe, just maybe... Seungyoon could make friends here.

* * *

 

He settled back down to sleep, his head was aching and his body was even louder with complaints. He wanted to fall asleep forever, but he knew that wasn’t likely so he decided just a nap would be enough. He climbed into the bed, tugging the covers up to his chin. He turned onto his side and looked over at his things which had been haphazardly thrown into a corner. On top of this was his backpack, keychains still securely latched onto the ring. Each one meant something to him, they were either from his mother or aunt, each was a charm for different reasons. 

His hand reached out and brushed the one that looked like an eye, the copper had been indented in the center to mimic an iris. This one was called  _ Foresight _ , according to his aunt and she had made him carry it with him throughout his entire school years. It’s purpose was to help him see danger in his future.

The cold metal felt pleasant to the touch, his skin warming under the blanket, the charm was a good contrast. He unlatched the keychain and pulled the charm close. He laid it down on the bed next to him, staring at it. It held good memories for him.

His aunt Yoo-ae was a spiritual woman who had joined the Jento tribes when she was a young girl, immersing herself in the cultures and methods. Since then, she’d given him little trinkets and amulets that were meant to bring him good luck. He kept a few of them, the others his older brother had thrown out, declaring them “voodoo shit” and saying that Seungyoon shouldn’t let her fill his head.

But deep down, he’d always agreed with his aunt and her beliefs. 

Thinking of home, he drifted into a slumber.

 

_ Seungyoon. _

_ Yoon. _

_ The words were purred like a prayer as Seungyoon craned his back, his fingers digging into the skin in front of him. His eyes opening wide, he saw the piercing eye staring at him, the other covered by a black patch. He gasped and wanted to pull away, but something just felt so good, he couldn’t move. _

_ His hips jerked forwards, enough for him to realize that he was seated in the man’s lap, rolling their hips together. Pleasure exploded inside of him, rippling up under his skin until it broke out of his mouth in a moan. _

_ “Sir,” he gasped. _

_ The man - Z - growled and craned his head forwards to bite down on the joint of Seungyoon’s neck. Two cool hands were wrapping around Seungyoon’s waist, making him grunt and turn to look.  _

_ Warm chocolate eyes met him, an easy smile as a body was pressed against his back, lifting his hips and helping him sink down on Z’s length. Seungyoon’s eyes squeezed shut as he took him in, he felt so full, so good... _

 

He jolted awake, sweat building on his forehead and beginning to trickle down his brow bone. He was panting, his chest heaving. He looked around frantically, ashamed of the growing erection he was developing under the blankets.

_ What the fuck?  _

It had been a long time since he’d had a dream even remotely similar to that. He was in grade school the last time.. he was a kid. A young stupid kid who didn’t know how dicks worked and now he was an adult who was... proficiently well versed in the ways of his dick.

Yet here he was having wet dreams about a dangerous man and his boy toy. This place really couldn’t be good for his health.

He threw the blankets off of him and stood up. There was a smooth door frame shaped crack in the wall and he sincerely hoped it was a bathroom. He walked to it and began tapping the wall surrounding it, looking for some kind of lever or button. He even tried kicking it.

At this point he was probably going to cum from frustration alone, but when he gently stroked his finger along the crack in the wall, it slid open.  _ Just be nice _ , he reminded himself. Inside was indeed a fully furnished bathroom, complete with a large shower as well.

Grateful, he dashed inside and tugged his clothes off, turning the shower to cold water. He needed to scrub the dream away. But even with the icy water pounding onto his shoulders, he couldn’t shake the aching need in his groin.

He angrily flipped the temperature to warm and reached for the lotion outside of the shower. He hesitated, was he really about to jerk off to a wet dream he’d had about his team leader?

Yep.

He grabbed the lotion and squirted a generous amount onto his hands, that should be enough. He reached down and stroked a hand over his cock, surprised by how good it felt already. He was so hard it hurt. He tried to be gentle at first, but it wasn’t enough. It felt good, but it wasn’t quite what he needed.

Trying to recall his dream, every detail still vivid in his mind, he tried to recreate the way he’d felt. He could remember it as if it was real, Z’s eye glinting as he bit into his flesh, the cool grip of Mino’s hands on his bare waist, the roll of Z’s hips and the way Mino forced him down onto Z’s cock. It was all so good, but it seemed so unachievable. 

Unless..

Just the idea made Seungyoon’s cheeks burn in shame, but he was desperately hard right now and he needed some release soon. He grumbled to himself, stepping out of the shower, not even bothering to towel off before he went straight to the bed. He was relatively inexperienced in this particular practice, and it’d been awhile since he’d done it, but he was pretty sure he could manage.

Once he had his legs propped up and was comfortably reclined on the pillows, he decided it was safe to continue now. Using the lotion to coat his fingers, he circled his hole with one finger, flinching at how cold it was. He continued, probing into the tight muscle. His face contorted a little, it was uncomfortable at first, but he persisted. 

After he got his index finger all the way in, he wiggled it around, trying to prepare for the next one. It was difficult like this, so he turned and laid on his face, his ass propped in the air. He had much better access like this. He slid another finger in, surprised by how much self lubricant his body was providing. He slid both fingers in as deep as they would go, trying to massage the warm flesh inside his body.

It didn’t feel nearly as good as it did in his dream, but for right now, he was at least feeling that fullness to a small degree. He pumped his fingers in and out, trying to create a solid rhythm to go off of. His hips started to rock a little with his fingers as he slid in another and another until he had four fingers buried in his own ass. He fucked himself on his fingers, finally feeling as full as he had in his dream. He let out a moan, without realizing it and he felt his cock throb.

Using his free hand, he gripped it around the base of his cock to keep himself from coming too soon. He needed this to last as long as possible, it’d been too long. Sounds spilled from his lips as he buried his fingers deep in his ass, moving them until he hit that spot. He cried out, the hand that gripped his cock stroking up, his fingers pressing hard against his prostrate.

He came harder than he ever had, choking out a “Sir” as he spilled into the sheets below him, his cheeks flushed a deep red. As he came down from his high, he could’ve sworn he heard Z saying his name, the same way he had in his dream. He shut his eyes right, removing his fingers from his stretched hole, which clenched around cold air. He collapsed into the mattress, too tired to care how stained it was now.

His thoughts were muddled and as he turned to curl his knees into his chest, lying on his side, he wondered if he’d fall asleep like this.

Before he got a chance to, his door opened and a soft voice said. “Oh.”

He rolled and nearly fell off the bed, tugging the cum splattered blankets with him. Embarrassed and feeling disgusting, he stood up with the blanket around him, covering his body.

_ Fuck. _

Mino stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, his eyebrows raised. He had a very knowing look on his face and it pissed Seungyoon off. After all, he was simply naked, he wouldn’t be able to guess what he was doing. Except for the smell and the red on Seungyoon’s cheeks and his stretched ass hole that was facing Mino as he came in.

He had never appreciated Mino fully, he realized as he looked at him. His skin was dark and his hair a pitch black that made him look like warm colors and spice. He was dressed in a thin black long sleeve, it was tight fitting in the arms and rolled up so his forearms were visible. He had a pair of glasses perched on his nose, his smirk making them look crooked.

_ Jesus fuck, he’s attractive. _

Seungyoon cleared his throat. “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to see how you’re healing up,” Mino ran a tongue over his stark white teeth. “Looks like you’re doing well.”

The blush on his cheeks spread to his chest and Seungyoon hugged his comforter a little tighter around his chest.

“I’ll leave you to it.”

“Wait,” Seungyoon bit down on his tongue.  _ Don’t you fucking dare,  _ he told himself.

Mino’s eyebrows raised even more and he took a step further into the room. His hand was white knuckling the doorway and he was staring at Seungyoon with a thick gaze.

“Yes?”

The soldier swallowed, he wanted to tell him to leave, he wanted to say nevermind, he wanted to stop being so fucking stupid. But he also...wanted to ask him to stay. He wanted to drop his blanket and get on his knees and  _ beg _ Mino. 

_ You barely know him _ , he tried arguing with himself.  _ He’s a stranger. Probably a creep _ .

_ But he’s hot. _

That was almost good enough for Seungyoon, but his battle with himself didn’t last long as Mino started to walk closer, abandoning the doorway. He approached slowly, his hips swaying temptingly.

“Yes?” he repeated, his voice dropping so many octaves it had to have been illegal in 97 galaxies.

“I...uhh,” Seungyoon tried to think of something that wasn’t monumentally stupid to say. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

Mino looked angry for all of two seconds - it almost frightened Seungyoon, but his expression oozed into a smooth grin that seemed amused. “Of course. I’m the resident healer around here for a reason.”

As he spoke, he stepped closer and closer until there was only the bed between them, Mino’s knees met the mattress. His eyes met Seungyoon’s and he crooked a finger at him, beckoning him close.

Slowly and unsurely, Seungyoon walked around the bed until he was within arms length of Mino. He swallowed.

“Let me see how my patient’s healing,” Mino chuckled, reaching out to imploringly tug on the blanket.

This was all kinds of wrong, but Seungyoon let the blanket fall to the floor anyways. His skin prickled in the cool air and he bit his lip. Mino’s eyes seemed to light up at the sight of Seungyoon’s lank body, it was pale in comparison to Mino’s own skin, however far more muscular. 

Two fingers trailed over Seungyoon’s chest, which was still a light pink with blush and Mino smiled gently. “Cute,” he seemed to decide, letting his fingers move to rub at Seungyoon’s nipple. The soldier sucked in a breath and tried not to moan too loud.

Something about Mino seemed to ooze sex as he approached, his entire body pressing against Seungyoon’s, making him flinch for a moment. His body was so warm and soft despite looking so firm and it excited Mino more than anything. Unable to resist anymore, Mino’s hands moved up Seungyoon’s back, sliding gently over his skin before moving into his hair to get a firm grip in his locks, tugging to pull Seungyoon’s head back.

With his throat exposed, Seungyoon felt nervous, but as Mino craned forward to lick a firm stripe from his Adam’s apple to the corner of his mouth, he found his lips parting to moan softly. A shiver was creeping down his spine and he wanted to grab onto Mino and tug him close, pull him close enough to slip into his skin, to tear him open and make him feel something.

But he didn’t, something was still holding him back and it wasn’t until Mino was biting into his neck that he realized what it was.  _ Normally with Z _ . Mino had sex with Z, frequently. And despite whatever fantasies he’d been getting distracted with, Z was most likely very possessive and would literally murder Seungyoon if he found out about this.

“Wait.. stop,” Seungyoon managed to say, Mino’s hands sliding down to his hips but stopping.

“What’s wrong?” Mino spoke gently, his fingers moving to brush hair out of Seungyoon’s face.

“I can’t,” he sighed. “You’re...”

The anger started to return to Mino’s eyes when there was another beep from above them and Seungyoon jumped, looking up to try and find whatever was making that noise.

“I gotta go anyways,” Mino grumbled. He seemed to be fully pouting now. He brushed a thumb over Seungyoon’s lip - everyone seemed to like doing that - and he leaned close enough for their lips to touch if they wanted to. “We’ll finish this later.”

Seungyoon’s breath ghosted over Mino’s tongue as he spoke and his expression suggested he enjoyed it.

“Get dressed. We have a thing to do.”

As Mino walked out, Seungyoon turned to snatch the blanket from the floor, tugging it to his body so h e could go back to the bathroom. In doing so, he heard something fall to the floor and roll to his feet. He stopped and looked down. The  _ Foresight  _ amulet stared back up at him.

* * *

 

Having dressed back into his uniform instead of the pajamas he’d had before, Seungyoon returned to join the others in what appeared to be a much larger version of the bridge on the fighter vessel.

Eomma, Blockbuster, Mino and Z all stood close, discussing quietly to themselves. As soon as they saw Seungyoon approaching, they broke apart and Blockbuster gave the soldier a little smile. It would have been comforting if it wasn’t for Seungyoon’s recent experiences with Blockbuster. He smiled at him, uncomfortably and carefully approached the group.

“Yoon,” Mino greeted him as if it was the first time they’d seen each other that day and he stared at him blankly before looking away. 

“So,” Blockbuster clasped his hands together and smiled at Seungyoon. “We’re very impressed with how you handled the situation with the cult and how you saved 1AM’s life.”

Z was staring intently at Seungyoon and when his gaze shifted to Mino, Yoon felt his gut twist. Had Mino told him? What if he found out? He’d probably stab Seungyoon a thousand times over with... most likely something sharp.

“We’ve decided that we’re gonna keep you with our team for the time being, so you’re going to have to do your best. You’ll apprentice under Eomma, who will disclose information to you at a later time,” Block spoke like he was reading from a script, or like he’d said it a hundred times. He probably had. “We’ll leave you in his hands. Don’t step on any toes and don’t fuck up.”

Z clapped suddenly making Seungyoon jump. “Cool. Protocol has been followed, Block, you happy?” he dusted his hands off on his trousers before stepping towards Seungyoon. “My turn.”

As he got closer, Seungyoon swallowed thickly, he knew he shouldn’t be so nervous but he couldn’t help it at this point.

“Welcome to the team, Yoon. If you fuck us over, I’ll rip your eyes out,” he flashed a grin, patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me.”

He sauntered away, reminding Seungyoon of every single captain he’d ever encountered in his life.  _ What a prick, glad it was only a dream that we fucked _ , he decided. 

Eomma was staring at him intently, his chestnut skin gleamed in the light of the bridge and his eyes were dark and intense. As Blockbuster and Mino shuffled out, the latter throwing a wink at Yoon, he increasingly grew uncomfortable. This man looked more imposing than the others somehow and Seungyoon wondered if it had something to do with how strikingly beautiful he was, which he realized now as he approached.

“Let’s go over a few things, Seungyoon,” Eomma used his full name, which caught his attention. “Do you know why they call me Eomma?”

“Because you’re the mom of the group?” Seungyoon inquired, trying not to smirk.

“Partially. But also because I’m the one who’s going to kick your ass if you fuck up... so don’t,” he cleared his throat before continuing. “I don’t usually do this with new members but as I’m going to be mentoring you, I shall introduce myself properly. My name is Hakyeon. I’m aware of yours, as you could guess. You’ll be shadowing me. If we’re on a mission, you stay with me always. If we’re here on the base, you’re training with me.”

Seungyoon listened intently, being reminded of his training days, the soldier that the KSA had tried to turn him into was starting to push his way to the surface and Seungyoon replied with a nod and a “Yes, sir”.

* * *

 

Training with Hakyeon turned out to be an interesting experience. When they weren’t practicing hand to hand combat, Hakyeon was showing Seungyoon the various types of weapons they’d collected and how they worked, where they came from. He told Seungyoon stories of battles that they were used in like he’d been there and he spoke with such a fondness in his voice and eyes that he had to wonder.

His combat techniques were different from anything Seungyoon had ever seen and as they fueled day after day, he started to notice how...superhuman they seemed. Hakyeon moved with such fluid motion that he looked like smoke some times as he moved around Seungyoon in a blur. 

When Seungyoon had first begun at the academy, he’d felt envy towards the older recruits or his trainers as they were better and faster than him. But now, watching Hakyeon, all he felt was awe. He wasn’t easily impressed, but Hakyeon was more than impressive, it was almost beautiful to watch him move.

During practice one day, Hakyeon grabbed an electric javelin, tossing it to Seungyoon and instructing him to throw it towards the target against the wall. Seungyoon stared at him. “I don’t know how to throw this,” he admitted.

Hakyeon sighed, walking to take the javelin from him. “It’s easy. You ever played darts?”

“No.”

“Well.. it’s about like that, so... just watch.”

In one motion, Hakyeon leapt off the ground, spinning in a circle and launching the javelin as he landed back on the ground. It looked like something you’d see at the cinemas, Seungyoon thought as he stared at the older, who was brushing his hands on his trousers. “That’s obviously not the easiest method.”

“Can you teach me that?” Seungyoon gaped.

“Some things take longer than your lifespan to learn, but we can try,” Hakyeon agreed.

_ Maybe, _ Seungyoon thought.  _ Things here could get better. _

After nearly three weeks of training with Hakyeon and Seungyoon felt like he was learning fast, but with no missions, he was getting bored and couldn’t actually practice the skills he had been taught. When a mission finally came up, Seungyoon nearly jumped for joy, before remembering where he was. Hakyeon was always watching him closely, gauging his composure as a person probably.

Z came into the training room, watching the two men fence with sabers before he cleared his throat. They had noticed him when he first walked in, but he occasionally came to observe and preferred them not to give him attention. However this was apparently not one of those times, so Hakyeon and Seungyoon set down their sabers, the loose tanks they wore when training showed way too much of Seungyoon’s sweaty skin for him to feel comfortable in front of Z, but he tried not to cower away. He noticed how Hakyeon folded his hands behind his back and turned to face their leader, the open arm of his tank had flopped and was exposing part of a nipple. He seemed unfazed however and Seungyoon wondered where that composure and confidence came from.

“Alright boys,” Z started in his usual drawl, his eye darting between the two of them, briefly glancing at their chests, making Yoon blush. “We’ve got something on our plates now. And it’s pretty big.”

He handed an info-tab to Hakyeon, who began scrolling through the report. There were details upon details that were included and Seungyoon internally cringed, he’d rather just hear the rough draft. Which thankfully Z gave to him.

“We’re infiltrating a boxing tournament, illegal boxing, mind you. The organizer of the event apparently has some details on the whereabouts of a missing galactic senator, he’s got beef with the guy who’s holding them. In return, he wants us to.. not bust him for illegal boxing,” he explained, losing Seungyoon halfway through but catching his attention again when he mentioned a missing senator.

“Which senator?”

“I don’t know, the Cabinet refuses to release any details to KSA, so we’re going in blind.”

Seungyoon swallowed dryly. He knew the occupants of the Cabinet seats a little too well, as his mother was one of them. He hadn’t spoken to her in almost a year, but he prayed with all his might that it wasn’t her. He prayed that that trash bag husband of hers hadn’t dragged her into some mess that resulted in her getting abducted.

It didn’t help that said husband had kicked Seungyoon out of their home, forcing him onto the streets until KSA found him and beat the man they wanted into him. Even after years of being forced to submit to the government, there was still an instinctual part of Seungyoon that wanted to run home to protect the woman who had taught him to “never let anyone control you”.

“Sounds good,” Hakyeon nodded, handing the info-tab back to Z. He turned to look at Yoon. “Go shower and then report back to me, we’ll go over a gear assessment.”

“Yes, sir.” Seungyoon bowed his head to Hakyeon and then to Z, who was staring at him so intently he felt uncomfortable, wondering for a long moment if there was something to wanted to ask him. The leader remained silent and so Seungyoon went on his way, unable to not wonder if there was something Z knew about him that he was still unsure of himself.

* * *

 

Standing in the shower, his hands shook gently as he stared at the ground beneath him, water pouring around his feet. His body ached with wear and he blinked at the shower tiles, rolling his shoulders. He could feel each bone creak with every movement, his body screaming at him to slow the fuck down. The past few weeks had taken a toll on him but he couldn’t find it in himself to care and he kept pushing and pushing, waiting to hear the first few strings snap.

As the last few drops of hot water trickled from his shoulders, he reached for his towel and scrubbed his body dry, fluffing his hair.. It had been awhile since he’d gotten a haircut and the long dark strands were almost to the tip of his nose now, he tried to sweep them out of his face but to no avail. He turned to dig through his belongings until he found what he was looking for, an elastic band.

He pulled his hair up onto his head, using the band to secure his locks in a knot, he tugged on it a little to ensure it would stay, before he got dressed. He tugged on his black undershirt, followed by his cargo trousers and his usual black military issued jacket. Staring at himself in the mirror for a moment, noticing how disheveled he looked even after just having showered, he sighed.

It was beyond time for a break, but he couldn’t look for one now. He needed to get ready for what was to come, and he knew that nothing even similar to a break was in his future. He had to suck it up and get used to it it seemed, judging by how tired everyone else looked all the time, he figured that breaks weren’t exacrtly something they were familiar with.

He headed for the weaponry, knowing exactly where Hakyeon would be at a time like this. The dark silver halls glinted in the dim lights as he walked, seeing a blurry figure of a reflection walking next to him. It was almost comforting, having himself staring back at him, watching his back almost. It was needed amongst this crew.

When he finally got to his destination, snippets of conversation made him pause, stopping to listen, to see if it was appropriate for him to enter just yet.

“No, Kwon, you fucking can’t,” Z’s menacing tone made Seungyoon shiver. “And even if you could, how do you think I would cover it up with KSA? What excuse would I give?  _ We just lost the new guy on the mission _ ? Do you know how stupid that would make me look?”

His words sent a chill through Seungyoon’s skin and he strained to hear a response, but hearing nothing he figured either ‘Kwon’ wasn’t in the room or was intimidated into silence. The latter was deemed to be true as there was a shuffling of feet and then a scurrying as this ‘Kwon’ person was likely leaving the room, taking the other entrance.

A frustrated groan kept Yoon from entering and he slowly sunk to the floor, keeping a hand over his mouth, unable to trust even himself it seemed. Eventually there was a clatter and more footsteps as another person seemed to enter the room.

“Is Seungyoon still not here?” Hakyeon’s voice. “That-”

Seungyoon took the opportunity to stand up quickly and walk as nonchalantly as he could into the room. Z was leaning on the table with the equipment spread out behind him, his eye was blank of emotion, although something seemed to glint in his iris as he looked at Seungyoon’s reddened face.

Hakyeon was standing, hands on hips, staring expectantly at Seungyoon. “‘Bout time,” he mumbled gruffly. “Alright, let’s go over these.”

* * *

 

Each member was fully equipped with any weapons or gear they could need, blasters, knives, lightbombs, earpieces and infotabs with blueprints of the surrounding 30 meter radius, as well as a life sign detection system programmed in.

Yoon was paired with Joker and Hakyeon, Z apparently didn’t trust him with 1AM anymore, which was understandable. They had had a bit of a fiasco last time and weren’t reliable in each other’s company.

They were left to the mercy of Hakyeon’s navigational skills as they sectioned off into separate shuttle ships. Seungyoon thought it strange that each team had different transport, but Rex had claimed that it was safer and raised less suspicion than a whole tactical team arriving, and this way - he claimed - Mino and him could prepare their disguises.. which was concerning to say the least.

The tournament was being held on a party planet, almost every square foot of the planet was occupied by one giant casino. A train system was set up straight through the middle of the planet, taking six hours to go all the way around. It was a lavish establishment, run by Caesar, a well known “businessman” who dabbled in trafficking, illegal boxing and the occasional territorial torture on the side. However he had agreed to help the KSA and therefore they couldn’t touch him. Powerful men such as him were bad news for everyone.

Seungyoon knew of him but he’d never seen the man in person as Z led the team into his office, Seungyoon found himself wishing he could go back to never seeing him. Caesar was much younger than he’d been expecting, he could only have been a little older than Seungyoon himself. He was tall and thin, his cheeks were slightly puffy looking and he had narrow eyes that bore holes into whoever they focused on. He was pretty, in fact, his dark brown hair was swept up in a perfect coif that framed his forehead well.

When he spoke, he surprisingly had a slight lisp. “I trust you all understand my negotiation. Don’t interfere with any of our business and I’ll give you the information you need.”

“If we make this quick,” Z smirked. “We can be on our way before your event begins.”

Caesar laughed loudly, it sounded mocking. “You really think I would hand over what I know just like that? I wouldn’t have called you here if that was the case.”

Z’s expression pinched, he was obviously suspicious of this man and well he should be. “What does that mean? I thought you were going to tell us where Swallow’s holding the senator?”

Leaning forwards and crossing his hands on his large marble desk, Caesar’s eyes lit up as he spoke, he looked viciously delighted. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll give you one of his men, and he’ll lead you there himself.”

* * *

 

Seungyoon was quickly learning to never trust pretty people, and as he stood amongst the masses of people, he stared at the empty ring. The tournament was just starting and the announcer’s painfully nasally voice was clear across the room, however Seungyoon had no idea what they were saying. He remembered Caesar’s instructions and kept his eyes peeled.

_ “The man you’re looking for is Swallow’s right hand man, if you catch him, you bring down the whole operation. He knows everything there is to know. But he also has a penchant for gambling, hence he’s here for the tournament. He always bets on the smallest guy and usually he wins, so keep an eye out.” _

He had shown them a photo of him and told them to go off of that, but unfortunately he was slippery enough that there wasn’t many good photos and so they had to go based on a grainy image of the side of his face. Seungyoon decided it was good enough.

The crowd was starting to buzz and move around him and Seungyoon wondered how old you had to be to adopt claustrophobia. He stuck close to Hakyeon, trying to avoid Joker’s attention as much as possible. But with Hakyeon there, he was sure the dumbass wouldn’t try anything. 

A cheer spread across the crowd as the lights dimmed and they announced the first fighters, who were apparently favorites as everyone shouted louder. Seungyoon sat quietly and watched them beat the shit out of each other, the one with the long hair had a particular preference to roundhouse kicks to the head, which wasn’t as entertaining to Seungyoon as it appeared to be to everyone else.

He waded through the crowd, trying to keep his eyes peeled, hoping he’d catch a glimpse of the man they were looking for. Face after face glided by, his eyes starting to glaze over the features, none of them catching his eye. The man they were looking for, Bomb was his signature, had a distinctive enough face that Seungyoon had confidence he’d know him when he saw him. 

As the next round of fighters were preparing to enter the ring, Seungyoon moved quicker through the crowd. There was only four scheduled fights - since freestyle boxing was illegal in this part of the cosmos, they tried to keep each event short and to the point (i.e. as gruesome as possible). The last pair of fighters were dragged off, leaving streaks of blood on the mat and as Seungyoon ducked under the arm of an 8ft tall... someone, he tried to block out the image of himself being dragged away like that, beaten and battered. He really had to do well on this mission.

Now on the other side of the ring, he could clearly see the entrance to the ring as the next participants approached. One of them was unbelievably gangly, their arms the size of Seungyoon’s head and the other looked fairly normal, yet buff. The hoods they wore covered their faces, until their names were announced. 

“ _ Mammoth _ ,” was the first fighter, most likely the large one and the next the presenter called out the name, stuttering the first letter in an old school sportscaster way. “ _ T-T-T-T-T-T-Rex”. _

Seungyoon paused and stared at the other fighter. It was indeed Rex, looking far too excited to get the shit beaten out of him.  _ “Disguises” _ , he’d said. Seungyoon should’ve known, with Rex’s partialness to games, he would be the type to do illegal boxing for fun.

Trying not to feel too concerned, Seungyoon kept scanning the crowd as Rex was booed where he stood. It was almost amusing, if it weren’t for the thought of Rex’s broken body being yanked from the ring, oozing blood. Seungyoon just hoped he knew what he was doing.

As soon as the fight began, Rex launched himself at Mammoth with a ferocity that genuinely shocked Seungyoon, he tried not to stare too hard at the fight as he pushed past a particularly small person. There was a huddle of men, who seemed to be betting, exchanging money and muttering among themselves.

Caesar’s words came back to him -  _ He’s a gambler  _ \- and Seungyoon decided to lurk close to them. They were standing close enough to the ring that Seungyoon could drift behind them unnoticed, behind him was an exit, which was blocked by a bouncer, mostly likely to make sure that no sore loser made a bolt for it before Caesar got his money’s worth.

In the corner there was a booth where Caesar stood with a small group of men, who looked like either bodyguards or prostitutes and Seungyoon didn’t care to ask. Caesar’s golden suit jacket was hard to miss, but the way he watched Seungyoon from across the room made it even harder to ignore him.

He watched the man’s eyes slide over him, before moving to look pointedly at a spot in the crowd. Seungyoon followed his eyes to spot the jaw outline and the strong eyebrows of their target. He was sitting with a small man, who was laughing, crinkle lines drawn into his eyes. He had ink covering his neck and down to his chest, which disappeared into the v-cut of his shirt.

Bomb gave a small smirk at something the small man said, deep dimples appearing into his cheeks as he seemed to nod in agreement. Seungyoon watched them carefully, glancing back at the ring occasionally so as not to draw attention to himself. If he was caught staring, they could lose their mark.

He tried to signal to Hakyeon, who was distracted staring at Rex, concern laced into his grimace as the younger received hit after hit. No luck there. He spotted Joker over by a group of young feminine people and he groaned inwardly. He would be of no help.

The only option was to go it alone. He tried to recall Caesar’s instructions to stunning him quickly and quietly and taking him unharmed. Seungyoon tried to weigh the other possible outcomes, knowing that the options were limitless. But if Bomb or his companion tried to put up a fight, at least Seungyoon was well trained in hand-to-hand combat now.

He weaved through the crowd until he was close enough to Bomb to properly figure out a plan. He tried to get someone’s attention, but there was too much going on, as Rex was taking quite the beating but was still on his feet. How, Seungyoon had no idea. As he passed by the side of the ring, he somehow managed to capture Rex’s attention.

Giving the fighter a look, Rex nodded, following Seungyoon’s gaze to where Bomb sat. Unsure of how Rex could help from up there, Seungyoon kept moving. He stopped when he was standing just a few feet from the two men, he pretended to be watching the fight, shuffling with some cash he’d pulled from his pocket, blending in with the multiple individuals betting.

Noticing a sudden uproar, Seungyoon fully paid attention to the ring. He was surprised by what he saw, which was Rex, actually getting the upper hand. He was throwing punch after punch, somehow able to see through the blood that was leaking out of the split in the skin of his forehead. He managed to knock the Mammoth onto his feet, at which point he climbed on top of him and started pummeling his face.

_ He always bets on the little guy _ .

Seungyoon caught onto Rex’s logic now as he noticed Bomb and his friend standing up, cheering on the fighters as the smaller man - whom they had most likely put money on - was starting to win. He saw his opportunity and took it. Bomb was excitedly shouting and waving his fist, he wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings, his only care was what was happening in the ring.

The announcer called the end of the fight, Rex taking the winning lead. The crowd was manically shouting as Mammoth was dragged from the ring, a stumbling Rex was raising his hands in the air, encouraging the cheers and screams. He seemed to be loving the attention.

As people were pushing close to the ring to cheer, Seungyoon took his chance and slipped in behind Bomb, now only a foot from the man. The amount of people moving was starting to push him forwards and he knew he had to work fast. He withdrew the stunner and discreetly loaded it. Just his luck, as the lights went out while they prepared the next fighters.

He fumbled with the stunner trying not to drop it in the dark. He slid the vial into the chamber and powered it up, thankful that the crowd was too loud to hear the whir of the device anyways. Carefully, he reached out in the dark, waiting for the lights to turn back on.

Once the announcer’s voice broke out through the speakers, Seungyoon knew this was the small window of opportunity he had. He chewed on his lip while he waited for the lights to turn back on.

“Mino!” the name caught Seungyoon’s attention and he snapped his head towards the ring.

Rex really wasn’t kidding about their disguises, he thought as the lights came back on and in the center of the ring stood Mino, wearing the usual shorts that the boxer’s wore and a lilac robe that touched the ground. He looked impressive standing there surveying everyone.

His eyes met Seungyoon’s and the young soldier felt his heart stop for a moment.  _ Lights _ . He turned back to his target, reaching out with his stunner to find... they’d gone. In the ten second timespan of the lights being off, the two men had somehow managed to slip away from Seungyoon, which told him... they were onto him.

And he’d lost them, which meant he’d be in a world of trouble.

_ Fuck _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Lemme know what you think in the comments or come find me on twitter @eaudelr uwu


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okayyyy . . . so this took an age and a day BUT WE MADE IT. my mental health + work schedule has not been a good combination but I’m gonna try my best to not wait months before the next update, I promise
> 
> please enjoy!  
> (sorry it’s so short)
> 
> intense scenes/violence/wet dream
> 
> also a character reveal, yay!

“Are you  _ fucking _ kidding me?” Z growled, his fists clenched at his side. Seungyoon stood in front of him, staring at the ground. He’d dragged Seungyoon into Caesar’s office by his collar, spewing curses as he pulled him through the crowd.

 

There was exactly 3.1 seconds where Seungyoon could figure out what was going on, but those seconds were a distant memory as Z cuffed him across the ear so hard that his vision blurred for a second. He flinched as Z raised his hand again, but the leader did not strike him again. He just stood and stared at him, fuming.

 

“We wasted an hour in there, he was right in front of you, and you lost him... How exactly?” Z asked quietly.

 

Seungyoon swallowed and blinked. “I don’t know. I got distracted.”

 

Z’s hands went up in the air. “What could possibly distract you in there? You were inches from him!”

 

Before he got a chance to answer, the door to the office opened and Rex padded in, looking more than pleased to have the swollen bruises on his face that were actually getting bigger and darker by the second. The battered soldier was followed by a stiff Hakyeon who looked infuriated and Mino, who was still wearing his shorts and silken robe, he had a cut on his lip and split over his eyebrow. He was drenched in sweat that glistened off his abdomen muscles, taunting Seungyoon.

 

He had difficulty once again tearing his eyes away and he immediately scolded himself, Z’s eye following his gaze to where Mino stood. There was a moment of realization that dawned over his face and an interesting expression filled Z’s features, his face twisted in amusement for a second and then something dark overcame him. It made Seungyoon want to drop to his knees, either to beg for forgiveness or suck him off, even Seungyoon wasn’t sure.

 

Mino was giving them a dazzling grin as he shut the door behind him, he glanced at Caesar who was sitting quietly at his desk and something sour flickered over his features, but he discarded it quickly. He rubbed his hands together and went to stand by Z. 

 

“Come on, Seungyoon just lost sight of them for a second. It’s not his fault. We still have time,” he wrapped an arm around Z’s shoulders, giving Seungyoon a wink. For one terrifying second, Seungyoon was turned on, but as Mino gave Z a pout and rubbed his arm gently, Seungyoon felt it slip away. 

 

Z’s eyes narrowed before he finally huffed. “You bastards better find him real fast... go now.”

 

Hakyeon grabbed onto Seungyoon’s arm and tugged him backwards with him out of the room, being in trouble with Z was one issue, but being in trouble with Hakyeon... that was what scared Yoon.

 

  * -



 

Reaper was tall, he was thin and angular and all sharp gestures and he was glowering all the time, which made him more intimidating. Seungyoon normally tried to tiptoe around him but sometimes he couldn’t be avoided. When he was angry, he was even more terrifying, and as he glared at Yoon from across the room, the soldier felt the need to hide.

 

It took Reaper and Playboy all of 2 minutes to find and subdue their target, leaving his friend to scamper off, before dragging Bomb into a dark room and shining a bright light in his face. He still wasn’t talking so they sent Z in, hoping to pry some information from him. If all else failed... Joker was their last resort, which Seungyoon hoped to god he didn’t have to witness. After being on the receiving end of Joker’s assault, he didn’t want to see someone else have to deal with it.

 

As Seungyoon started to get comfy in the weak metal chair he was sat in, Z came bursting from the room, fury written into his features. He focused on Seungyoon first, then Reaper, who immediately stood up. The leader’s eye was wild for a moment, but then he grabbed Seungyoon’s wrist, wrenching him from his seat and pulled him after him out into the hall.

 

Trying not to trip on his own feet, Seungyoon stumbled as Z stopped suddenly. He was staring at the wall in front of him and for a moment, Yoon wondered if this was the end of Z’s sanity. 

 

“...Sir?”

 

“We’ll have to deal with this ourselves,” Z murmured. He stared at Seungyoon, his fingers slowly slipping from the grasp he had on the soldier’s wrist. He leaned in close, making Seungyoon’s skin tingle as the distance between them got smaller. “You’re the only one I can trust on this mission. I need your help.”

 

He had never heard Z sound so sincere, or look so conflicted. The weight that must have been on his shoulders was unimaginable and all Seungyoon could do was nod.

 

“S-sure,” he said in a small voice.

 

Whatever stoic leadership Seungyoon saw in Z was trickling down the drain as he stood in the room, watching the leader loom over the man in the chair. Blood was starting to leak out of Bomb’s left nostril, the purple bruising that was starting to appear around his eyes and mouth were evidence of the treatment Z had given him. Every part of Seungyoon told him this was wrong and had to be stopped, but for some reason he couldn’t move from where he stood.

 

Seungyoon could count on one hand the amount of useful information they’d pulled from this guy and it was starting to get a little old. He knew that Swallow would kill him if he talked, and so he was remaining stubborn, no amount of coercion seemed to be helping.

 

Z was sick of the games and the back and forth and he took a deep breath. One look at Seungyoon and the soldier knew, whatever happened in this room, stayed in this room. If he breathed a word of it outside, there would most likely be grave consequences.

 

He tried his best not to get too uncomfortable as Z withdrew some tools, a small hammerlike object and a blade of sorts. Seungyoon swallowed. He didn’t want to witness this, but no amount of squirming and being disturbed would help anything, it would just make him appear weak in front of Z and he couldn’t afford that right now.

 

Seungyoon bit down on his lip and prayed for Z to not notice his discomfort as the man slapped a whip across Bomb’s chest, causing the man to grunt in pain.

 

“Strip him,” Z ordered Seungyoon and the soldier froze. He was not trained for torture. “Well..?”

 

There was no time to think about what he was okay with, Seungyoon simply stepped forwards and did as he was told. He unbuttoned Bomb’s shirt down to the last button and tugged it back off his shoulders, their victim was watching him carefully, as if he could see right through him.

 

Forcing the man to sit up a bit, Seungyoon pulled his pants down to his ankles, leaving him in his underwear, blinking up at the two men. He seemed surprisingly unfazed, despite the bruises that had formed along his mouth and jawline. There was a wit behind his eyes that told Seungyoon this was all for nothing, something else was going on while they were in here.

 

And yet Z kept striking the man, this time with the whip he held in his hand, the metal nubs that were threaded into the leather struck the man’s skin, dragging a shout out of his mouth. He was definitely accustomed to pain, but that didn’t mean he was invulnerable to it.

 

Z seemed determined to prove this.

 

  * -



 

Seungyoon pushed his way through the halls until he found a restroom, here he slipped inside and immediately ducked into a stall. He tried to even out his breaths, the sound of screams and the sight of blood and bone showing through skin made his stomach churn. He had started to go dizzy halfway through and by the time Z was done with Bomb, Seungyoon thought for sure he was going to pass out. 

 

He barely made it to the toilet, before he was vomiting, feeling whatever may have been in his stomach at some point hurling it’s way out. He was surprised he’d lasted as long as he had, watching all of Z’s cruel tactics and ways of making Bomb talk. And it had worked, he eventually talked, admitting that the man he was with at the fight was Swallow himself and that he was holding a Senator on his station in the Cunan Provinces, which were in the Hybrid Galaxy, that was nearly a week long trip.

 

Seungyoon shut his eyes, feeling a bubble of guilt start to dig it’s claws into the lining of his stomach, drawing up even more for him to vomit out. He rested his palm against the inner wall of the stall and took deep breaths. He steadied himself until he felt well enough to walk. With his newfound balance, he made his way out of the stall and over to the sink, where he splashed cold water onto his face.

 

He stared at his reflection in the mirror, the water in his eyes warped his face, twisting it into something ugly and unfamiliar, yet he looked the same as he did yesterday. He was changing, since he’d joined this troupe he’d done things that he never would have thought he would do.

 

It was dangerous here, he knew that. Initially he hadn’t realized to what extent, but he was starting to get a better grasp on it now. It scared him.

 

The bathroom door creaked open and he flinched, hurrying to look like he was washing his hands. He didn’t look in the mirror to where Mino was standing, watching him carefully. When he stood up and moved over to the hand dryer, Mino took a few steps closer. Seungyoon stared at him in the reflection of the metal casing on the dryer. 

 

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he tried not to fight it. “Z can be a little much sometimes, I’m sorry he put you through that,” Mino sounded surprisingly lucid for someone who seemed intoxicated most of the time. His eyes were dark and captivating and Seungyoon found it hard to look away.

 

For a moment, he thought Mino was done, but then the man cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. “He’s not a bad person, y’know. He’s just...had a bad life. And he’s good at his job, even if it means hurting someone. It’s hard for him... hurting people.”

 

Seungyoon didn’t believe him, but he didn’t want to argue or make him feel bad, so he simply nodded as if he trusted his words. “Okay.”

 

“No, really,” apparently his ‘okay’ wasn’t convincing enough. “He has a really hard time when it comes to interrogations. He’s kinda soft on the inside.”

 

The glint of joy from Bomb’s pain was still reflected in Z’s eyes when Seungyoon tried to picture him, soft just didn’t fit the image. But who was he to argue? He didn’t know this man as well as Mino did, he didn’t know the ins and outs of his body and he didn’t know the way he looked in the morning, or the soft sounds he made under gentle touches. Seungyoon did not know these things. Mino did.

 

“Okay...”

 

“Just don’t take it personal, you’ll see what he’s really like...one day,” Mino said this in a tone that was meant to be reassuring and encouraging but Seungyoon wasn’t sure if he wanted that day to ever come around.

 

Mino left, leaving Seungyoon confused and a little bit worried for the future, god knows what Z would do next. Seungyoon didn’t like unpredictability and nothing Z ever did was predictable, logic would say that Seungyoon should hate Z, but for some reason.. he excited him.

 

Sure he scared the shit out of Seungyoon, with his personality flip going from smacking Seungyoon for fucking up, to begging him for help and saying he was the only one he could trust. He was wild and uncontrollable and that just drew Seungyoon in, it was like smelling a nice shop aroma from the street and being unable to step inside to see the goods. Seungyoon couldn’t stop walking further in. God knows what he was getting into.

 

  * -



 

_ Teeth sinking into the spot between his thigh and his balls, he sucked air in through his teeth and threw his head back. He let out a shout of a moan. _

 

_ Through a haze he could see someone lingering over him. Mino. “Oh sweetie,” he purred. “Did you ever think we’d let you leave?” _

 

_ He tried not to look down where Z was licking his lips viciously, lifting his head from Seungyoon’s groin to grin at him, a dark glint reflecting in his eye. Seungyoon felt hazy pleasure as he watched - almost through fog - as Z lowered his mouth once more. _

 

_ Mino’s teeth scraped along the lobe of his ear. “You belong to us now.” _

 

_ There was a feeling of being trapped and Seungyoon couldn’t move a muscle, other than to thrust into Z’s mouth. His thoughts were swallowed by his surroundings and he lost all control of himself. _

 

_ One of Mino’s hands crept around to clasp at his throat, squeezing tight. Seungyoon was unfamiliar to this type of pleasure and at first it enhanced the experience, but then it became painful. He couldn’t breathe. Mino was going to kill him. _

 

_ His hands scratched at Mino’s trying to remove the pressure that was blocking his breathing panic starting at his toes and spreading throughout his nervous system. He needed to stop it but he couldn’t... he had to wake up. _

 

Somehow Seungyoon managed to jolt himself awake, only a brief moment of relief before he realized that it had only partially been a dream. The hand and pressure against his throat was very real. Panicked, he choked and tried to pry it off.

 

A face could barely be made out in the dark, but no recognizable features, just an expression of glee. Terror started first and of course his soldiers instinct decided to wait a minute before kicking in and he used all of his body strength to throw the person above him off.

 

He watched the figure tumble off the bed and onto the floor, he kicked the blanket off after them, before propelling his body on top of theirs, wrapping the blanket around the head. He pulled the edges of the blanket tight around the neck, cutting off their air flow.

 

The body flailed under the blanket, trying to strike out. Seungyoon pulled tighter, lost in the moment and not realizing the consequences of what he was doing until the body finally... stopped.

 

Cautiously, he tugged the blanket off the head, feeling them go limp in his arms. The head rolled back onto his shoulder and he got a glimpse of the face.... Oh no.

 

  * -



“He’ll recover,” Reaper’s voice was flat as he spoke, his eyes not moving from Seungyoon in the corner. “But the force that was put on his vocal chords may result in him not speaking again.”

 

“Jesus Christ,” Z groaned. “What was he thinking?”

 

“That’s not all.. His brain patterns seem to suggest that... well he wasn’t of his own mind.”

 

“Has he ever been?” Mino snorted bitterly, fiddling with the sleeves of his pajama top.

 

Z and Mino looked like parents that had been dragged out of bed to scold a child, standing in their sleepwear, looking drowsy. Reaper somehow looked put together, like a legitimate doctor, in his uniform. Seungyoon was only in his pajama bottoms, still drenched in sweat - not only from his dream but from almost killing someone too.

 

Laying in the bed, also dressed in his uniform, lay Joker. He looked like a fallen soldier, almost as if he’d passed away while on duty... thankfully he wasn’t actually dead or Seungyoon would be in a whole lot more trouble.

 

As it was, Z seemed to place more blame on Joker than on himself.

 

Reaper glared at Mino for his comment and continued. “There’s some kind of chemical imbalance in his brain, suggesting he was poisoned. Certain poisons can make the brain very susceptible to influence or pressure, especially from a senior figure.”

 

“So he was poisoned and... Are you suggesting a superior officer gave him instructions to attack Yoon?” Z asked, his eye not wavering towards Seungyoon as he felt himself unable to look away from the leader.

 

_ A superior officer. _ Seungyoon tried to go through the list of people here who hated him, but he felt like those who didn’t was shorter. He was pretty sure he’d cleared the air between him and 1AM, he hoped Hakyeon didn’t hate him and then...Blockbuster. He was nice enough to him, but that night that seemed to be forever ago. There was something that wasn’t right about him, although whether or not that something was murderous or not, Seungyoon couldn’t be sure.

 

He listened to Reaper explain the different reactions the brain could have to certain chemicals, he lost interest in that quickly, but he paid close attention to Z and Mino’s expressions. Z looked impassive, unbothered by all of this. And Mino, whose lips were drawn tight and there seemed to be something twitching in the corner of his mouth.

 

Suspicion filled Seungyoon and he had to drag his gaze away. He did not see Mino look over his shoulder, staring at Seungyoon’s lowered head. 

 

“He just needs some rest and we’ll see what kind of state he’s in when he wakes. That being said, I’d like Seungyoon to stay here so I can check his health, he was attacked after all.”

 

His head lifted at this, he started to feel concerned. Reaper was a superior officer, and he knew the most about chemicals and what would affect the human brain, he also most likely hated Seungyoon. He did  _ not _ want to be left alone with him.

 

However Z and Mino shuffled back to bed, all the airs and graces of a “crisis averted” attitude. Seungyoon fidgeted in his seat, he felt his lungs nearly collapse from the nerves as he watched Reaper where he was standing. 

 

The man was built more like a doctor than a soldier, now that he was out of his uniform, that was more apparent. He was thin, almost deathly so - making his nickname even more suiting - the only noticeable muscle in his body was his arms. His neck was long and he had thin lips, his eyes were shaped narrowly, giving him a permanent glare.

 

“Couldn’t you have done a better job?” Reaper’s voice was quiet as he gathered a bundle of items, ointments, ice packs and such.

 

Seungyoon looked up, a skeptical expression on his face. “What?”

 

The response was a deep unfamiliar chuckle, presumably from Reaper himself, but his face would not disclose that. He knelt next to Seungyoon, using the tip of his finger to tilt his chin up and examine his neck. “Come on, Joker may be apart of our team, but everyone hates him. He’s more of a headache for me than anything.”

 

“I’d rather not have a death on my hands...”

 

“If you say so,” Reaper’s mouth twitched. Was that...almost a smile? His fingers were cold as he rubbed a salve at the red marks on Seungyoon’s throat. “Does that hurt?”

 

“Only a little,” the younger mumbled in reply. This kind of tenderness from Reaper was beyond strange.

 

The man turned to a tall white cabinet and open the glass door, cool steam billowed out as he reached in and withdrew a small bottle. “Here’s a salve,” he spoke, holding it out to him. “Rub it on twice a day for a week or so and it should go away in no time,”

 

Seungyoon gratefully took the salve. 

 

As Reaper turned back to scribble on his clipboard, Seungyoon stood up and stretched. “May I go then?”

 

“Very well.”

 

The younger soldier clutched the salve tightly, trying not to look at the sleeping man in the bed next to his, it was unnerving to look at him, even asleep he was a bit frightening. Seungyoon took a few steps closer and looked down at him, reassuring himself that there was nothing Joker could do to him now.

 

He saw the band around his wrist and he frowned at it. 

_ Asphyxiation, Kim Yu Kwon. _

 

_ Kim Yu Kwon, _ he thought.  _ Joker’s real name _ .

 

It was strange to think that he actually had a real name, that he wasn’t just Joker, that he wasn’t a nameless being or an entity, he was a real living breathing being, and Seungyoon had almost killed him.

 

“Twice a day,” Reaper interrupted his thoughts. “Don’t forget.”

 

“Right,” Seungyoon promised, and then hurried out of the medical wing.

 

  * -



 

It was awhile before anyone saw Joker again, which was slightly concerning and slightly relieving. Seungyoon honestly could’ve gone longer, but unfortunately he had to come back at some point. 

 

It was during their next mission, which was to investigate a military outpost that had been sending mixed radar signals over the past few days and required some evaluation. They were station at the outpost for the next week, to oversee the goings on and make sure no one was sending the messages on purpose, to make sure it wasn’t just a technical malfunction.

 

Seungyoon was assigned with 1AM and Blockbuster to stand at the Operations Center and keep an eye on things, look for anything out of the ordinary. Not that Seungyoon even knew what the ordinary looked like on a military outpost. The officers here seemed to look at him strangely, knowing that he ould’ve been where they are and simply joined the military, but he had to take that step further to complete special training and be an elite.

 

It was unsure if it was envy or betrayal in their eyes, they treated him like some kind of mercenary, but if he met their gaze they backed down quickly. It gave him a slight taste of what the other members had... intimidation. He liked it more than he should have.

 

As they surveyed the Operations, the captain who was in charge of the outpost was more than willing to cooperate with them, because it meant he got to sit in his chair and let someone else monitor his men for once. Seungyoon and 1AM had already agreed that they didn’t like him. 

 

One of the junior officers, a private perhaps, was a little strange and Seungyoon chose to focus on her, wondering what exactly she was up to. The way she typed hurriedly and she looked over her shoulder too often.

 

“Welcome on board, soldier,” Seungyoon heard the captain say, he shook his head a bit, his mind returning to the here and now. 

 

Just in time he realized as he saw Joker looking disgruntled and walking over to join  1AM, Block and himself. The man looked as if he hadn’t slept in three days and he had an unsteady look about him, as if he didn’t know who to trust. It was odd to see him again, standing and not in a hospital bed.

 

1AM exchanged a look with Seungyoon who decided to stay silent. Blockbuster was the only friendly one apparently as he quietly whispered a greeting to Joker. “How are you feeling?” he asked

 

_ Yu Kwon, _ Seungyoon heard in his mind.

 

Joker grunted in response, it sounded something like  _ Been better _ but you could never be sure with him. Seungyoon tried not to stare, wondering exactly what he remembered. 

 

Did he remember attacking Seungyoon or did he only remember Seungyoon wrapping a sheet around his neck and choking him until he lost consciousness? Would he feel sorry towards him or be resentful? 

 

Questions such as these were silenced as Yu Kwon came to stand next to Blockbuster, his eyes glancing over Seungyoon’s neck but never higher, never looking him in the eye. Always lingering on the angry red marks that were still present in Seungyoon’s skin.

 

So it was probably guilt that haunted Yu Kwon’s eyes, guilt and... something else that he couldn’t figure out.

 

  * -



 

Seungyoon awoke in a cold sweat for the 4th night in a row, he knew something had to be wrong with him, the fever that was beginning to overcome his body made him wonder when the last time he’d had a proper meal or a full night’s sleep. He needed a break, but with Z’s tactics for training and mission prep, Seungyoon knew that that wasn’t likely to be anytime soon.

 

He reached for the t-shirt he’d discarded earlier that night and wiped at the sweat pooling in his collarbones. He wasn’t even sure what had startled him awake, he just knew that it had been enough to leave him scattered and nervous. Must have just been a bad dream.

 

As he started to lay back down, he noticed something that made him jump upright again. The screen on his wall was lit, it was a peephole of sorts to see the hallway outside your door before you opened it. Usually it was vacant, no one coming to his side of the hallway, but not this time. This time a face was pressed to the camera, as if they could see through it to see him in his bed, sleeping.

 

It was familiar, the wide shape of the eyes noticeable, the droopy lids were what gave it away. Blockbuster. Standing outside his room, staring into the camera almost like he was trying to summon Seungyoon into letting him in. But there was no way he knew whether or not Yoon was awake. At that hour, no one should have been awake, especially not lurking in the halls.

 

It was strange to feel so much fear at this moment, Seungyoon tried to be rational with himself, remind himself that Blockbuster was his friend, he wouldn’t try to hurt him like Joker did. But the emotionless eyes that stared through the screen at him did not remind Seungyoon of his friend, they were the eyes of the Blockbuster that Seungyoon had seen back on Homeworld, in the dead of the night.

 

As afraid as he was, he had to get answers. Slowly he slipped off his bed, not bothering to grab his shirt and approached the door. Blockbuster’s face did not move and his eyes did not blink. He weighed his options, he could just open it to hopefully find out that Blockbuster just sleep walks with his eyes open. Or he could open it and find out that that... thing was not Blockbuster, at least not the one he knew. Or he could just turn around and get back in bed, pretend like he didn’t see the person waiting outside his door, pretend like everything was fine.

 

“Right,” he whispered to himself. “Like you could even sleep.”

 

He had to do it. He had to open the door.

 

His hand closed around the cold button, hesitating before pushing into it carefully. He took a step back as it slid open into its cradle, he was prepared for anything. And yet... there was nothing. Blockbuster was nowhere to be found. 

 

Taking a step back into his room, he tried not to panic. “Don’t freak out,” he repeatedly whispered to himself as he turned his head to close the door. Still staring back at him, Blockbuster’s face still filled the screen.

 

His gut twisted and he slipped out into the hallway. He couldn’t sleep in there that was for sure, he wasn’t sure where he was going to go, but after that.. anywhere but there was fine.

 

Stumbling down the hall, he found himself in the common room, there was the singular couch and a few chairs. He deemed it good enough. The ship’s temperature was always kept at a comfortable level, so there was no need for a blanket. He stretched out and tried to will his heart to calm down. He wasn’t going to sleep at this rate. 

 

As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, he couldn’t unsee the eyes of Blockbuster, or whatever that was, staring at him through the screen, unblinking, unfeeling.. He shivered and tried to lay on his side, maybe it would help him sleep.

 

He had his eyes clamped shut as tight as possible, waiting for the wave of tiredness that was bound to come wash over him. It didn’t, he just sat there in the dark and the quiet as if waiting for something to happen. And then he heard them... footsteps, moving slowly down the hallway.

 

He froze, cold terror slipping down his spine. He prepared to defend himself, after all he was a soldier, and yet he was unarmed and didn’t know what the enemy even was.

 

They got closer and closer until he felt eyes on him, it was unmistakable, the feeling of being watched. He didn’t dare open his eyes, he wanted to flee, but he was scared it was right there. Right above him.

 

A hand clamped around his arm. He gasped and rolled off the couch, trying to get away. As he was scrambling to his feet, he noticed the person standing above the couch. It was not Blockbuster or whatever was outside his room.. It was just Mino, looking startled and watching him curiously.

 

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” the man whispered, almost amused.

 

Seungyoon was breathing heavily as if he’d run a marathon... or seen a ghost. “It’s... it’s fine.”

 

“What are you doing out here? You have a room..” Mino smirked, his eyes drifting. Seungyoon noticed now that he was only in his pajama pants, his chest exposed. A flush waved over his cheeks as he remembered the last time Mino had caught him undressed. 

 

“Couldn’t sleep?” Mino asked.

 

Seungyoon nodded.

 

“Me neither... join me?”

 

“What?” Seungyoon gaped, his heart still racing, for many different reasons.

 

“Come sleep with me. It always helps Z,” Mino’s voice was almost like a purr and Seungyoon felt it tug at his self control.

 

“Alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please please let me know what you thought!! thank you bunches for reading 
> 
> AUTHOR NOTE: WAIT I FORGOT TO TELL YOU GUYS THAT I WENT TO ZICO’S CONCERT AND I MET HIM AND HE WAS SO CUTE AND SWEET :’)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *WARNING: this chapter is explicit, there’s a sex scene (at the end, if you wanna skip it) and there’s a non explicit attempted r*pe scene but i put *’s at the start and end and you can skip over it if you want. there’s also violence so be warned. please stay safe kiddos and take my warnings seriously, even if it’s not that bad, i still want you guys to be safe so if it even kind of makes you uncomfy, DONT read it <3

Mino’s hands were oddly cold against Seungyoon’s warm skin, his fingers pressed into the flesh of his stomach. His head rolled back and he let out a soft moan as Mino’s mouth worked over his neck. He had pushed him into the bed as soon as they entered the room and Seungyoon’s nerves were too shaken to stop him, not that he would even in a right state of mind.

 

Soft grunts escaped his lips when Mino’s teeth sunk into his collarbone, his body pivoting gently against the older man’s body. He was sensitive and bruised easily, the bite making him whine a little as Mino sucked on it. He gasped as Mino’s fingers dipped into the waistband of his pants, he was starting to lose himself in the moment. His mind was clouding over as he started to give into the pleasure.

 

“M-Mino,” he rasped.

 

“Mm,” Mino hummed,

 

“I-I don’t know if this is right,” his skin tingled from his head to his toes, his hands clenched the sheets tight trying to hold back his erection. He didn’t want to embarrass himself right now.

 

Mino sat up, a look of confusion overcoming his face. “What? Why?”

 

“Because of... well, because of Z,” Seungyoon groaned, it almost hurt saying it out loud, expressing his insecurities. He didn’t want to admit that he was afraid of Z, not lying beneath Mino like this.

 

The older man laughed and leaned forwards, his hand extending to rub his thumb over Seungyoon’s brow bone. “You’re worried about Z? Think he’d be jealous? Should we invite him then? The thing about Z that you don’t seem to understand,” his voice lowered a bit, drawing Seungyoon closer. “He would kill to join in.”

 

It wasn’t just what was implied in the sentence but that Seungyoon knew that Z had no qualms about killing people that sent a chill down his spine. But all thoughts were lost as Mino slid down his body to mouth against the erection in his boxers. He moaned softly, his fingers moving to grip Mino’s hair.

 

With Mino between his legs, Seungyoon’s eyes drifted around the room, trying to focus on not coming too early. He examined Mino’s bedroom, the purple lights that glowed along the meet of the wall and the ceiling gave it an almost retro look. It looked exactly like Seungyoon’s quarters, but it was personable and clearly had been occupied for much longer, as there was actual signs of life.

 

It also smelled different, it smelled faintly of sex and strongly of flowers, from where that scent was coming, Seungyoon couldn’t decipher. Maybe that was just Mino’s natural musk.

 

A light bite against the shape of his cock made his head fall back and his eyes close as he moaned. Mino was going to be the death of him..

 

  * -




 

“You have parents?” Mino asked, taking a drag from the glowing orange e-bong in his mouth.

 

Seungyoon shrugged, that was a sore subject that he usually tried not to think about.

 

Mino barked out a sharp laugh. “What.. so you don’t know?”

 

“Well, I do.. I just.. I dunno, my mother’s a member of the KSA Cabinet, I haven’t spoken to her in awhile,” he grumbled. His voice implied he was very reluctant to speak on the subject, but that didn’t deter Mino.

 

“What about your dad?”

 

Seungyoon smirked. “What about him, huh? Well, he was great. I got along well with him, but he and my mother.. Well, she prioritized her work over us, so they split. She remarried a complete fuckface and he moved to somewhere nice, alone and at peace finally.”

 

“So you miss him?” Mino’s voice was soft and stripped away Seungyoon’s defensive walls, peering through the cracks at his tender heart. “I miss my parents too.”

 

“What happened to them?”

 

“I left them,” he smirked. “I.. I followed a boy and ended up lost in space. Too far away for them to find me. I was angry at the time, but now... now I’m just lonely.”

 

“Lonely?” Seungyoon looked up at him. “But what about Z?”

 

Mino’s laugh this time was not witty and characterized, it was cold and filled with something akin to bitterness. “Z? Does he seem like a good substitute for family? Not exactly the warmest personality aboard..”

 

Seungyoon fell quiet. He could tell there was internalized hurt that festered inside of Mino and he didn’t want to be the victim of it’s angry tendrils, lashing out at anyone who prodded at it. He leaned forwards a little and propped his elbows against his knees. Mino was sprawled, naked with his head resting against the pillows and Seungyoon sat cross legged with the blanket tucked up around his bare waist.

 

Outstretching his arm, Mino offered the e-bong, which Seungyoon accepted silently. He took a long drag and then held onto it for a moment. There was an odd expression on Mino’s face, it almost made him look like a veteran might. He wanted to ask, to learn everything there was to learn about Mino, but he settled for not pushing personal buttons and simply passing the e-bong back.

 

The thing about meeting out here, amongst the stars, with their home planets at their back and comrades by their side, was that you couldn’t get too attached. It was almost an unspoken agreement. This was just temporary, no matter how far they went, they would still be willing to abandon each other to save themselves.

 

But for right now, it was okay... for now it was okay for Seungyoon to lay down next to Mino, and rest his hand on his knee, holding on for some kind of support. The dull purple light painted Mino’s skin a greyish pink, his body was surprisingly void of tattoos, as most of them were soldiers they all had at least one insignia tattooed into their bicep or forearm. But not Mino, his skin was clear and pure, as if waiting to be tainted.

 

  * -




 

Months slipped by and Seungyoon grew more and more attached to Mino, they often ate together, trained together, even sometimes doing their laundry together and every so often, slept together. Mino kept it to a minimum, Seungyoon assumed to keep it inconspicuous, he didn’t want to even imagine what would happen if Z found out.

 

However, Z was no fool and Seungyoon was starting to grow worried about their secret being exposed. After all it was getting harder and harder to hide it, it was even starting to show during missions.

 

Their missions were no ordinary go in and rescue an official or shoot a subordinate enemy soldier. They were becoming much more complex and odd and it made Seungyoon wonder just what exactly the purpose of this team was.

 

The most recent mission that Seungyoon had been put in charge of required undercover work, Seungyoon had spent the past week acting as a security officer for a couple’s resort, where Mino and Z pretended - or did they - to be newlyweds. The resort was nothing like what Seungyoon had been expecting, it was not a nice beach side hotel and spa where they were served mimosas. It was much... different.

 

It was positioned on a planet that seemed to be in eternal darkness, there was no sun, only the occasional star. The resort’s building was big enough that it could be considered a castle, perhaps it was at one point. The staff all wore leather muzzles that covered all but their stark white eyes, which unnerved Seungyoon more than anything.

 

The resort’s purpose was not to give couples a relaxing time where they could rekindle their love. It was instead based solely on the sexual aspects of a relationship, here they encouraged the dominant figure in the relationship to openly treat their partner however they wished, whether as a slave or as a pet, it didn’t matter.

 

Seungyoon had to clench his jaw as he watched Z tug on Mino’s collar, the younger man was wearing nothing but a silk skirt that was attached just above his belly button and flowed to the floor, it was pure white and almost made him look like an angel. But it also made Seungyoon blush and look away on multiple occasions.

 

Z himself was clad in a shimmery gold robe that hung open, exposing part of his chest, tattoos covered almost all of the skin that was visible. Seungyoon swallowed roughly when Z bent over and his robe fell open, exposing a firm chest and a hardened nipple, from the cool air he was sure.

 

The mission was to expose the sex trafficking cartel that was run through the resort, which really didn’t come as much of a surprise, however it was illegal in this sector. Seungyoon had strong opinions on sex trafficking, hence he was put in charge of this mission. He was determined to tear them down to the ground.

 

As he stood in the yard, watching the various couples lounging around, lazily sipping from their drinks and groping each other in the dewy grass, Seungyoon noticed an observing figure lurking in the shadows. Z and Mino were roughly 20 feet away from Seungyoon and should anything happen, he had a perfect shot to take out any attackers.

 

The figure slinked closer to the crowd and Seungyoon’s fingers twitched, he let his hand rest on the butt of his blaster, while doing his best not to watch too closely. Eventually the figure emerged, heading right for Z and Mino. It was a portly man who was wearing the clothes of the resort staff, however he was not shut up by a muzzle, nor were his eyes the dull whites of the others. He looked almost normal, minus the fact that instead of a left hand, he had a hook, from the curve of which, hung a small lantern.

 

He carefully approached Z and began having a quiet conversation with him, no doubt introducing himself and rambling about how ‘pretty’ Z’s pet was. Mino scowled at the man, sipping from his pearly red drink. He was obviously not enjoying the man’s company, even less so as the man’s right hand reached out to stroke over Mino’s cheekbone.

 

Seungyoon felt disgust roll in his stomach. He wanted to go and hit the man, but he was sure Z would be less than impressed by him botching the mission via defensive behavior over Z’s partner. So he remained still, and silent as he had been for the entire week.

  
  


It had been bad enough to watch the way Z treated Mino, but to see it come from total strangers was borderline torture. Not that Seungyoon had any kind of feelings for Mino, just comraderie and the usual fuck buddy attachment.

 

However his attention was drawn away by a hand touching his chest and his attention snapped forwards, following the owner of the hand to see a pretty man staring at him. He had a very nice looking woman right behind him, no doubt they were very drunk. The man’s skin was very pale and he had piercing blue eyes, dark curls sat down past his ears. His alien heritage was clear however as Seungyoon noticed that he had ridges that looked almost like fish gills along his neck and collarbone.

 

The woman, from the brief glance that Seungyoon had spared, had darker skin that was a rich burgundy color, her fingers were much longer than that of a usual human and her eyes were narrow and dark. Her head was completely bare, in fact she had no hair that was visible, some form of albino it seemed.

 

“Do you need assistance?” he asked, vaguely remembering his role as security.

 

“We do, in fact. We believe there’s something weird in the drinks,” the man was saying, not bothered by Seungyoon looking past him towards Mino and Z. “Could you try it and let us know what you think?”

 

Ugh, spoiled rich people, he didn’t say aloud, but the thought was present.

 

“Uh,” Seungyoon saw the hook-handed man reach out and snap the waistband of Mino’s skirt with his hook, his jaw clenched. “Sure.”

 

A cup was shoved into his hand and he hesitated, his eyes fixed on Mino’s tightening stomach as he tried to subtly step away. Seungyoon took a swig mindlessly. “Tastes normal, I’m sure it’s fi-” Seungyoon’s sentence died quickly.

 

His mind went instantly hazy and it was like he was being submerged in water. He squinted towards Mino and Z, just as the hook-handed man was grabbing Z by the waist and pulling his body against his own, gesturing wildly at Mino.

 

He broke his gaze and stared at the couple before him, now that he was actually paying attention to them he could see the odd expressions on their faces. Satisfaction. Oh fuck, I’ve been drugged. He frowned and tried to form words, but nothing more than ‘what’ escaped his lips before he felt his mind truly drift.

 

It was almost like he was watching the situation play out from the crowd, the couple looped their arms through his elbows. His mind was the only thing that was weakened from their drug, which made it easy to walk Seungyoon back inside the resort. He tried to call to Z and Mino, but they were still in conversation with the man. Seungyoon could’ve sworn Mino was looking at him over Z’s shoulder, but he was dragged through the front doors before he could get a proper look.

 

Dizziness overwhelmed his mind and he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t protest or question as the couple pulled him down the hall and into a dark room. He didn’t get a chance to see the label on the door as they entered.

  
They were talking, perhaps to him and it took Seungyoon a moment to regain enough strength to understand them. Their words slowly cleared until they made enough sense to be sentences.

 

“-So pretty, we’ve been watching you all evening.”

 

“They said we could experience all the luxuries the resort offered.”

 

“What a luxury, you must be,” the words were almost background noise to him, but their intentions were clear enough.

 

Fear began to eat it’s way from the bottom of his stomach up to his chest, getting a grip on his heart. They flicked the light on and the fear only blossomed out to his armpits, overwhelming him. He realized now what this room was.

 

It was a private room that the couples used when they wanted to.. Experiment. There was a harness that was suspended from the ceiling in the middle. The couple pulled him over to it and tugged the harness down. His mind was almost numb and unable to send any kind of commands to his body, he was simply forced to sit and watched.

 

*

 

The man began tugging at his armored vest and Seungyoon silently begged him to stop. Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me. If he was able to speak the words would be pouring from him like a burst dam. Please stop.

 

Hands grasped at his waist as the woman pulled the harness down to clamp around his body, holding him upright and still. He managed to let out a tiny whimper, which the man seemed to take as encouragement as he figured out how to unlatch the vest and rip it from Seungyoon’s body.

 

They made quick work of the thin long sleeve that Seungyoon wore under the vest, the typical uniform of the security guards here. He opened his mouth to plead for help but nothing came out and he tried to brace himself.

 

He’d dealt with so much worse, so he would survive this, he knew that. Even as they tightened the second half of the harness across his chest and biceps, eventually cuffing his hands into the restraints. Even if the fear in him was stronger than any he’d felt before, he knew that he would get through it.

 

It was so unbelievably unfair that this would be what reduced him to a trembling mess. He was a soldier, he’d looked death in the face and still stepped closer. He’d almost died on multiple occasions and he’d done dangerous things to rescue people. He’d always been a protector and now.. He was weak and unable to move, simply quaking in fear.

 

He wanted to just...black out and not have to be awake for anything they were about to do to him. He tried not to think of the man that Z had tortured, the things he’d done, burning his skin with hot metal, peeling chunks of skin off of his thighs. Any of that, Seungyoon would rather endure than this.

 

The worst part was the shame that was burning his cheeks, as if he was in the wrong, as if he should be embarrassed right now. It felt wrong and dirty to feel that way, but he couldn’t help it. As the man brandished a whip from the table and the woman stepped forwards, her too long fingers groping at Seungyoon. All he could feel was shame.

 

He squeezed his eyes shut, he didn’t want to watch, he didn’t want to feel the woman’s hands sliding into the waistband of his cargo pants, he didn’t want to feel the harness getting tighter around his lower half as they raised it, pulling his feet from the ground and leaving him suspended in the air. He didn’t want to be awake.. Or even alive for any of this. He just wanted it to be over with.

 

“Relax, baby,” one of them spoke as if he was their partner, the third wheel for their experiments no doubt. The very idea disgusted him.

 

He tried once more to call for help, no words or sounds left his throat and it drove him insane. Tears of frustration and fear leaked through his eyelashes now. The powerlessness that was overtaking him was the worst of all. He couldn’t help himself, or Mino, god knows where he even was right now.

 

*

 

That question was quickly answered as the door burst open, light flooding the room. Seungyoon’s closed eyes squeezed tighter shut, the light was a rude awakening in the darkness. He slowly opened his eyes as sounds of shouting and a blaster sounding off made it impossible for him not to watch. The hands that were on him fell away and he swung a bit in the harness, as his eyes slowly adjusted enough for him to see.

 

Mino stood a few meters away, blaster in hand, white skirt was partially torn, an ugly red stain seeped into the thigh area. Seungyoon’s eyes glanced over him, his heart pounding in his chest, before he looked down by his feet. The couple lay there, burn marks in their backs as a thick liquid began to ooze out of the wounds.

 

Behind Mino was Z, who hurriedly pushed his partner out of the way and ran to Seungyoon. Mino appeared to be in shock for a moment as he watched Z lift Seungyoon, releasing the pressure of the harness. He carefully held him with one arm and unbuckled the harness with his free hand. Seungyoon’s body slumped into Z’s arms, surprisingly the man was able to hold him, slowly letting him down to the ground where his shaky legs were unable to hold him.

 

Tears of relief were starting to flood down his cheeks and he felt a gentle hand wipe at them. He was not expecting that from Z, although he couldn’t bring himself to look at either of the men as he was pet affectionately and words of reassurance were whispered to him. Both from Z, oddly enough.

 

“Let’s get out of here, our covers were blown,” Z then said and pushed Seungyoon onto his feet. “Can you walk?”

 

The young soldier nodded slightly, trying not to be embarrassed about the fact that he was only in a pair of torn cargo pants. Z’s hand slipped into his, and he found himself comforted by that. He pulled him along as they took off out of the room and down the hall. Mino was leading the way, blaster at the ready.

 

He ran with a limp, Seungyoon noticed and he felt worry fill him. The bloody mark on his thigh must have been his own. But he did not have time to question as the portly man from earlier came running around the corner behind them. Seungyoon, whose mind was still not entirely in control of his body, watched him waving his hook like mad, a group of security guards were behind him, chasing after them.

 

“Get those men! And bring me my prize!” the man was screaming, sounding not unlike a child throwing a fit.

 

“Playboy, you got that shuttle ready?!” Z screamed into a radio that he had withdrew from his robe pocket.

 

A garbled response was given, but it sounded positive.

 

As Mino pushed the main entrance doors open, he waved Z and Seungyoon through, raising his blaster to fire a few shots towards the guards. He wasn’t far behind them as Z dragged Seungyoon to a small shuttle ship, which was just landing as they emerged from the resort.

 

The back of the shuttle was already open and Reaper stood there, holding onto the support bar at the top and shouting for them to hurry up. As they approached, Z all but threw Seungyoon into the back of the shuttle, before turning to grab Mino.

 

Blaster shots from the guards were now raining down on them and Z tried to shield Mino as he urged him onto the ship. Seungyoon saw Joker standing further in the ship, holding a much larger weapon at the ready. He lifted it to his eye and began firing, picking off the guards one by one as Z and Mino scrambled aboard the shuttle.

 

The ship was already off the ground by the time the back hatch began closing, giving Joker a small window to shoot a few more of the men on the ground, before it locked shut and they were all able to release the breaths they were holding.

 

Mino rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. There was a scratch on his cheek that Seungyoon hadn’t noticed till now. He wanted to reach out and grab him, thank him for rescuing him, but he could not move his limbs. All he could do was look around the shuttle at their small band of soldiers.

 

Reaper, the apparent doctor with a gun, was already digging through his medical kit, trying to find some sterilizer and a wrap for Mino’s thigh. He had seemed so scary and silent the first time Seungyoon met him, but he’d seen him in so many different lights now that he seemed less intimidating.

 

Joker, well Seungyoon was still uneasy about him, but at least for now, he was grateful for his help. And with how quiet the man had been recently, Seungyoon did feel a little bad about what had happened between them.

 

Mino, pretty and sly Mino who had lured Seungyoon in for weeks with his charm and when he finally had him, he’d been gentle and open with him in a way he’d never experienced. Yet Mino who had been so fierce in defending himself and saving Seungyoon that his undeniable skills were enough to make Seungyoon’s stomach flip.

 

And Z... Seungyoon couldn’t figure him out. One minute he was harsh and arrogant, he was demanding and pushy. But then other moments, he stroked Seungyoon’s hair and held him tight like he was scared of living without him. Z, who protected his team fearlessly and with every part of him. Z, who could be cruel and caring within one sentence. Seungyoon was drawn to him more and more and he couldn’t figure out why.

 

“Let me look at that,” Reaper’s soft voice broke through Seungyoon’s thoughts and his eyes drifted over to watch him lift up the Mino’s skirt to examine the wound on his leg. It was one singular puncture, the skin around it was stained with blood and it was curling at the edges, almost as if infected. It looked like a deep wound, Seungyoon’s best guess was that it was from a hook.

 

Z watched not far from Seungyoon, concern painted into his features, his eyes even wandering away as Mino flinched through Reaper cleaning the wound. He couldn’t stomach to watch it either and Seungyoon found his eyes meeting Z’s one eye. The concern for Mino in his eye carried over into their locked gaze.

 

Carefully, their leader walked closer to Seungyoon and he reached out to grasp his shoulder. He leaned over, their eyes still latched and he looked deeply into Seungyoon’s hues. He was studying him for a moment before understanding dawned on his features.

 

“They drugged you,” he spoke.

 

Seungyoon, unable to reply, simply blinked. He felt Z’s hand, chilly to the touch, but comforting all the same, touch his cheeks. He held his face for a moment, before grabbing his shoulders and helping him lean against the wall. In this new angle, out of the corner of his eye, Seungyoon could see angry red welts across his chest and wrists and he shuddered internally.

 

This mission was one he wouldn’t be able to shake for awhile.

 

  * -




 

Once they reached the Kyungwon, Seungyoon had regained most of the control back in his limbs and was able to stand on his own. He followed Reaper - who was propping up a limping Mino - to the infirmary, where he was given some water and a head cold medicine to clear up his thoughts and something to take later if he had trouble sleeping.

 

He was discharged within a few hours, once the drugs had worn off in his system. As he left, he whispered to a sleeping Mino to rest well and heal quickly. Then he went to his quarters to get changed and shower.

 

The first thing he did was throw away the torn cargo pants, not wanting to ever see them again. He climbed into the cool shower water, leaning his head against the wall. Every muscle in his body ached for some reason and as the water came down onto his head, soaking his hair, he felt a weight slowly creep over him.

 

Exhaustion came first, the strain of working as a security guard for a week and then being suspended in a harness was taking a toll on his already overworked body. Then came that same shame, burning low in his neck and spreading over his stomach and face, making his knees give out. He sank to the floor of the shower, holding his legs close to his chest, not even bothering to stop the tears from escaping.

 

He let himself cry for the first time in a long time, not just a few sniffly tears, but genuine sobs came from his lips, making his chest quiver and his jaw shake. He wasn’t even sure what or who he was crying for. He was just crying because he could, because he wanted to, because there was nothing else to do. There seemed to be no other appropriate response to having been almost raped. It was just as simple as that.

 

Gratitude was also a large emotion that he was feeling, towards Mino, towards Z and Reaper, even Joker. He was grateful that they’d saved him, but he was also grateful that they just let him be there with them, that they kept him around and that they trusted him. It was good to feel needed for once.

 

As his tears started to come to a stop, he wondered if he should try to stand up, but he really just wanted to lean against the wall and fall asleep. He needed to at least turn the water off first, he decided and reached up to tap the button. The last few drops of water landed at his feet and he watched them swirl on the ground before disappearing down the metal grate along the wall.

 

With as much strength as he could muster, he pulled himself to his feet, grabbing his robe from the hook on the wall. He wrapped it around himself and trudged into his bedroom, staring at the floor as he walked. He barely even noticed the man standing in his room.

 

He could see who it was clearly and he tried the best way to acknowledge him, should he say hello, should he salute, should he even acknowledge him at all? As he tried to weigh these options, his tired body just dragged him to the bed, where he slumped onto it. He was much too tired for any kinds of interactions right now.

 

The silence that filled the room made it slightly awkward, as he could hear the scuffing of Z’s boots against the flooring, the rocking and pacing that Z was starting to do was going to get annoying very quickly, he knew that much.

  
“Thank you,” he eventually blurted out. “For saving me.”

 

Z sighed for a moment, before sitting on the edge of the bed, his weight on the mattress made Seungyoon’s body roll slightly towards him. He took this opportunity to place his hand gently on Seungyoon’s arm, not wanting to go up towards his shoulder as that was a little impersonal, but not wanting to go down towards his hips as that would be too intimate.

 

“Are you...okay?” Z asked.

 

Seungyoon wanted to answer, he wanted to yes that he was fine, he was a soldier, he could handle it. He wanted to assure Z that he was okay, but he just... couldn’t. No words could come out of his mouth, but this time it wasn’t because of the drugs in his system, it was out of fear. He was scared that if he spoke, he would break. He was scared of telling Z the truth.

 

“It’s okay if you’re not, I mean,” he took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t expect you to be. I just want you to know that... well, we- and by we I mean, me and Mino, we’re...”

 

The emptiness of the sentence made Seungyoon finally roll over enough to look at Z. “What?”

 

“Well, we... we’re here for you. What you went through wasn’t okay, and we never meant for that to happen. That is.. If I had known that that was going to happen I wouldn’t have put you on the mission.”

 

“Why me?” Seungyoon blurted, the words coming out before he thought about them.  
  
“What do you mean?”

 

This time his words were paired with a crack in his voice as tears started to form in his eyes. “Why did they pick me? They could have picked anyone else, but they chose me... why?”

 

Z’s expression changed multiple times, he seemed to be weighing what a good answer would be. As his leader he would want to be honest with him while delivering the least amount of damage possible. “Well, I think they,” he hesitated, swallowing. “You’re attractive, Seungyoon. You’re extremely beautiful, however...that in no way justifies what they did. You being beautiful is not a good reason for anything they did or tried to do, so don’t blame yourself... please.”

 

These words were ones that Seungyoon had never heard before and had never expected from Z, or anyone else on the ship. They were oddly caring and yet full of concern and hope, Z wanted to comfort him, he wanted him to feel safe and secure while being here and that was something he had never expected.

 

He stared back at the leader and slowly sat up, his bones aching in protest, but he ignored them. He slowly raised his hand to his forehead, outstretching his fingers in a salute. His hand quivered for a moment and before he could lower it back down into his lap, Z caught it. He held it between his palms, like he did with Seungyoon’s face back at the resort.

 

“You’re deserve so much more, Seungyoon. You deserve to be taken care of, you deserve to have someone who pays attention to your needs and wants and who wants you to be safe and comfortable,” as he spoke, Seungyoon’s thoughts immediately drifted to Mino, Mino who cared, who took care of Seungyoon. “You are worth so much more...don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”

 

Pressing the back of his hand to his mouth, Z tenderly kissed his knuckles before rising to his feet. He looked like he was about to leave and desperation filled Seungyoon, he didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts. “Can you...stay?”

 

Z looked back at him, he examined him lying on the bed, looking worn out and still damp from the shower. He walked over to Seungyoon’s side of the bed and grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills that Reaper had given him. He reached out and pressed them into the young soldier’s hands, shaking his head.

 

“Not this time. Take these, they really do help, trust me,” he promised, his voice still gentle.

 

  * -




 

“M-Mino,” he canted as the older man pounded into him, his fingers gripping Seungyoon’s hips tightly. They moved together as if they’d been doing it their whole lives, as if they’d always been in sync. Mino’s hot breath was cascading onto Seungyoon’s shoulder as he fucked deep into the man.

 

Being as highly trained as he was, Seungyoon had to be flexible, and now he was able to put it to good use, his legs wrapped around Mino’s middle, giving him easier access to his entrance, which Mino had thoroughly fucked with his tongue already. And now, as soft whining moans left Seungyoon’s mouth, Mino’s blissed out eyes trailed down to examine the man beneath him.

 

“You’re so flexible, Seungyoon-ie,” he whispered, his voice was hoarse, no doubt from sucking Seungyoon off not even twenty minutes previously.

 

His fingers were so tight against Seungyoon’s hips, that he felt like he couldn’t move, and yet with every thrust in, Seungyoon managed to roll his ass down onto Mino’s cock, drawing loud groans from him.

 

He had always been unfairly pretty, too bronze and too perfect, but now with his dark hair thrown down into his eyes and his glowing dark skin dripping in sweat... he was beyond perfection. He was a kind of sinful innocence that Seungyoon could never be able to describe in words or recapture in a picture, he could only taste what he could now and savor it for just this moment.

 

All in all, Mino was just too much, he was too close and too good at this that Seungyoon wondered if that was why Z was just a little insane, you’d have to be after having too much of a good thing. How he was even alive was a mystery to Yoon, getting to have Mino in his bed every night would have done Seungyoon in long ago.

 

“Seungyoon,” Mino purred into his ear, making his eyes roll back in his head. “You’re doing so well, such a pretty boy. You’ve been so good, you deserve to feel so good. Do you feel good?”

 

A trembling nod was Seungyoon’s response as Mino managed to get a free hand in his hair and tug. “Yes,” Yoon eventually rasped as Mino increased his thrusting. He felt so so good, his body exploding in warmth and bright yellows and reds, those were the things he could feel in his stomach and chest.

 

He had never had a fuck as good as this one, he realized as Mino found his prostate again, slamming into it, pulling sickly sweet whines and whimpers from Seungyoon. He grinned viciously down at him, he knew he was in for it now. Mino was unrelentless in his fucking and by the time Seungyoon was coming for the third time, he realized that Mino had been clutching the base of his own cock to stave off his orgasm.

 

He wanted Seungyoon to come first, he wanted to.. Take care of him. No one had ever taken care of Seungyoon before and as he gasped his way through his climax, his fingernails digging into the skin of Mino’s back, he realized that he didn’t want anyone else to take care of him ever again. For him, it would only be Mino.

 

  * -




He awoke with a sweaty gasp, the deja vu like dream that was the cause of his tented pants made him blush a little. Perhaps what he felt for Mino was a little more than just a casual fling sort of scenario, but as he tugged at his cock to release the pressure he felt from his pajama pants, it was not just the gentle tanned beauty that appeared in his thoughts.

 

As Seungyoon’s orgasm washed over him, it was caused not just by Mino, but by imagining his counterpart as well, one sharp eye staring at Seungyoon as he fingered himself. Cold callous hands clutching his hips as he fucked into him, bruising his sides. It was these thoughts that actually made Seungyoon come this time, it was Z.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading!! i really hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> for sneak peeks of upcoming chapters and answers to any questions, you can find me on twitter @eaudelr and also on curiouscat @nolovevip


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this chapter is very short, but I wanted to give you guys something before I start into the big story arc that starts at the end of this chapter.  
> I don't have any warnings for you guys for this chapter, other than that it might be a little boring, but it also answers some questions that have been left unanswered. You might be able to guess a few things by now!   
> Enjoy :)

 

  
Seungyoon’s life seemed to be filled with more and more challenges, not only was it becoming increasingly difficult to accept the idea of taking on another mission, but it was becoming harder to face Z or Mino. His dreams were more frequent and he thought about them both more than he should have. He imagined them each individually, or both at once, each time he would jerk himself off and feel ashamed afterwards. 

 

He wanted to punish himself for being like this, especially towards superior officers and so he worked harder and harder on training. Hakyeon had even had to force him to stop a few times as he was pushing himself too hard.

 

“You’re gonna get hurt,” Hakyeon scolded, reddening Seungyoon’s ears.

 

There was just no possible way that he could tell the truth right now, how could he fess up when he was in such a predicament. That and he could hardly sleep anymore, for if it wasn’t dreams about being fucked by Z and Mino, it was nightmares about various scenarios. It made it difficult for him to get any rest, given his late night masturbation and his early morning training. He needed to get a grip on himself.

 

He was becoming unfamiliar to himself and the scariest part was that he wasn’t scared of that side of himself. He knew that he had to focus on his missions, or he really was going to get hurt or killed. Hakyeon knew that and he knew that, he could even feel Hakyeon’s eyes on him now, watching as he dropped into pushups and back up.

 

“What is wrong with you?” Hakyeon eventually snapped. “You’re in your head all the time, you’re losing yourself. What’s going on?”

 

Seungyoon muttered under his breath about it being none of Hakyeon’s business, but he clearly wasn’t buying that. “Tell me. Now.”

 

“I just...” Seungyoon took a deep breath.  _ What even was his problem?  _ “I don’t know who I am anymore. I used to be one of the best soldiers, I followed almost all the rules and... coming here,” he shook his head. “It’s so different. You guys have unregulated weapons, you torture people, I’ve been attacked by my own team here twice already, and what’s more is... I’m starting to become more like you guys.”

 

He licked his lips and stared at the wall, before continuing. “After the last mission I just, I don’t care about the rules anymore. I just want to get revenge and I’m so  _ angry  _ and I want to kill anyone like those people and I’ve never felt this angry before in my life. It kinda scares me... not knowing who I’m becoming.”

 

Hakyeon was genuinely listening and Seungyoon appreciated that he could tell, but there was something on his face that told him he wasn’t going to like his response. “Do you know why we are the way we are, Seungyoon?”

 

“No.”

 

“Survival. The KSA doesn’t give a fuck about us, and I don’t know what anyone’s told you, but they don’t give a fuck about you either. We have to live like this or else we’ll die. It may seem like a bad thing for you to become like us, but the way I see it... we’re teaching you how to survive. Nothing matters more than that.”

 

As Hakyeon spoke, Seungyoon felt the need to take his words to heart, which was very rare for him. He usually brushed off advice like this, but this time, it was different. Hakyeon had earned his respect and his trust and he needed to listen to him.

 

“Now, let’s finish up here before you get too relaxed.”

  
  


  * -



  
  


_ Z’s calloused face stared down at him, his eyepatch was discarded, the scar that started in the middle of his forehead, crept down until it touched his cheek. Where his eye used to be was a small black orb, it looked like a camera, embedded in his eye socket. _

 

_ Scrambling back across the cold gravel, Seungyoon looked around, panicked. Surely someone could help him, maybe Mino or Blockbuster could come to his aid. He opened his mouth to call out, but the wind blew and snatched his voice from him. _

 

_ The courtyard surrounding them cast in darkness, as there was no sun in the sky, the pillars that used to form some kind of structure were starting to crumble under the pressure of the wind. There was just silence filling the air and Seungyoon felt his chest constrict as he realized he couldn’t call for help, he couldn’t make a single sound. The silence was overwhelming, but he couldn’t tear his attention away from Z as he took another step closer. _

 

_ Seungyoon shook his head, his hand outstretched, in an attempt to push him away. “Please,” he mouthed. He didn’t want to die like this, he didn’t want to die by Z’s hand, he didn’t want to die. “Please, no.” _

 

_ The knife that Z clutched in his hand glinted in the reflection of a light. Where was it coming from? Seungyoon looked around desperately, maybe there was someone coming who could help him. He could see by the entrance to the courtyard, to far to draw his attention, was Blockbuster. His eyes were glazed over, his jaw was open wide, almost unhinged. Seungyoon noticed the cords that were connected to his temples. _

 

_ He looked like he was in pain, like that first night that Seungyoon had stayed with Blockbuster, that terrible nightmarish night that made Seungyoon question reality. _

 

_ Silently pleading with Z, begging him to stop, Seungyoon felt for the first time an urge to survive. He had to live, he had to get to Mino, he had to save him. But it was too late, it was too late when he’d been backed into this courtyard, it was too late when Z first loomed over him and it was too late when Z sank his knife into Seungyoon’s gut. _

 

  * -



 

Seungyoon woke up, a cry for help leaving his lips as he was pulled from his nightmare. He could feel cool sweat covering his neck and back. There was definitely something wrong with him, he just couldn’t figure it out. He couldn’t be having dreams like this, they were even worse than the sex ones. It was too dangerous to question your team, especially to be afraid of them. But he couldn’t help it... Truth be told the idea of facing Z made him sick.

 

He rose from his bed, realizing that it was already 30 min after he usually got up. He heard a clatter as he pulled the blankets from his body. He looked down, following the noise with his eyes. There at his feet, lay the  _ Foresight _ amulet that his aunt had given him. He frowned down at it. Maybe his brother was right and it was just voodoo shit. He sighed and shoved it into the first drawer in his nightstand.

 

As he dressed and prepared for first meal, he felt an uneasiness making him hesitant. He wasn’t sure what to say when he did see him, how could he when the image of Z’s artificial eye and the grin on his face was going to haunt Seungyoon for maybe the rest of his life.

 

When he got to the kitchens, he was surprised to see everyone in there, eating. It was rare that everyone came to first meal, as they were usually training or just didn’t want to be with everyone. At first Seungyoon wondered if there was malicious intent to everyone being in the same place at one time, but he had to remind himself that it was just a bad dream, no one here actually wanted to kill him. He didn’t even feel like Joker wanted him dead anymore.

 

He grabbed a ration and took a seat at the large table, where everyone sat to eat. He looked around the table, no one looking up to see him enter. They were all aware of his presence but they were too busy either poking at their food, not wanting to eat or they were immersed in the story that 1AM was telling. 

 

Surprisingly enough, 1AM was good at telling stories. He seemed so caught up when  he spoke normally, but when he got into the theatrics of reenacting something he saw in a feature on his tablet, or something from his childhood. He had been raised by a rather wealthy couple and so had been given a good childhood filled with trips to the shows or time spent watching features, it was just something he was used to. But it also resulted in him being quite theatrical. 

 

Seungyoon tried to relax - and most importantly not look at Z, who was eating calmly next to Mino, even laughing along with the others at 1AM’s story. He seemed so normal now, so relaxed, but Seungyoon’s dream refused to leave his mind.

 

1AM reached the punch line of his story and everyone dissolved into laughter, it felt so natural and at ease, which was so rare for them, given their professions. Joker laughed so hard he leaned into Ponyboy’s shoulder. Reaper even smirked and Hakyeon placed his arm around his shoulders.

 

An ache began in Seungyoon’s chest, this was what he’d wanted since the beginning. He’d wanted the camaraderie, the laughter, the good times. Even if they were rare, he wanted them so badly. He wanted a team... a family. He allowed himself to smile a bit, in case anyone happened to look at him, but he didn’t take his eyes off Z. Part of it was wary, the other part curiosity. It was strange to see him smiling and laughing. It was almost mesmerising now that he was seeing it.

 

A moment passed where time seemed to slow, it was just Seungyoon and Z in the room, Z’s eye crinkled in amusement and his smile wide, it made his cheeks scrunch in an almost adorable way and Seungyoon was finding it harder to breathe. Z’s gaze shifted across the room until it met Seungyoon’s, his laugh faded but his calm expression didn’t, his face softened and he held the eye contact for way longer than was appropriate.

 

It was Seungyoon who broke it, ignoring the warmth that was building in his stomach, looking down to stare at his food. He took a small nibble, finding it impossible to actually eat right now, his appetite was completely gone. He felt an elbow nudge him and he looked at Blockbuster, who he was seated next to.

 

“You really should eat, you know? It’s got lots of nutrients,” he encouraged. Seungyoon gave a half hearted nod in response.

 

For some reason, he felt that if he looked at Z, he would still be watching him, however he didn’t want to test this theory and he finished eating his meal before standing up and leaving the room. He didn’t even know where he’d go, he just didn’t want to be there anymore.

 

He walked the halls for quite some time, just trying to avoid everyone. All of them had secrets, obviously but he felt that some of them had worse secrets than others. Right now, he especially wondered about Blockbuster. Had that first night even been a dream or was it real? And the other night, when he’d seen Blockbuster’s face clearly on the screen outside his room, he didn’t know anymore. He needed solid answers.

 

Since everyone was still at first meal, or heading to the gym at this time of day, he took the opportunity to do a little...exploring on his own. He kept his casual pace down the halls until he reached the infirmary. There was no one in there, as he’d expected. He slipped in, making sure to close the door tightly behind him.

 

The infirmary was rows of bed and medical equipment, it looked just as any hospital should, but he knew there had to be an office of some sort around here. He walked the length of the room carefully, examining the walls. Once he got to the end, he saw it. A door, set into the wall, next to a bookcase. He carefully approached. The door would most likely be locked, but it was still worth making an effort.

 

He tried to think of what Reaper’s passcode could possibly be, but he didn’t have time to figure it out, as he reached out to stroke the door and it opened automatically. It seems it wasn’t actually locked. He stepped inside, there was a desk where Reaper most likely spent most of his time. There were shelves along the walls, filled with tablets of various kinds.

 

Seungyoon glanced over his shoulder first, assuring that no one was coming. He started flipping through the tablets, there had to be the member’s personal files here somewhere. There was no apparent order to the tablets, as Reaper no doubt had a system that only he understood. But it didn’t take Seungyoon long to spot one of interest.

 

It had a date which was just a few weeks ago and the name  _ Joker _ on it. That must have been the night that they were in the infirmary after Joker attacked him. He kept going back further, as now he started to understand the system. They were sorted by date, it seemed. He saw one from a month ago that read,  _ Z _ , and his hand itched to grab it.

 

The anonymity around his team members made his curiosity almost insatiable, but Blockbuster’s words from when he’d first joined the team came back to him.  _ “Do you want everyone to know your name?” _ There were some things that must be kept secret, things that Seungyoon didn’t need to know right now. So he left that file be.

 

He kept searching until he found the one he wanted.  _ Blockbuster _ . He pulled it out, listening cautiously for any kind of footsteps or scuffling that might suggest he was about to be interrupted. He heard nothing, so he continued. He turned on the tablet, wondering why his hands were starting to shake right now.

 

A profile of sorts appeared on the screen, followed by stats and percentages. There was a section for blood pressure levels, heart rate and things like that, things that usually wouldn’t interest Seungyoon. But the heart rate one was unusually high. He frowned at it but then turned to address the rest of the profile. Surely there would be something here that would give him some answers.

 

_ Park Kyung, 26, ‘5”7 _ , headed the profile and he took that as something interesting. He scrolled down the profile until he found an x-ray of his body. Here he stopped, almost gasping as he examined the photo. There was a blackness that covered almost half of his body, some unknown substance that seemed to fill him. He stared at it in a mixture of confusion and horror. 

 

A small cliff note beneath the photo piqued his interest.  _ Healing process: 67% _

 

_ Healing? _ He wondered.  _ Healing from what? _

 

He set the tablet onto the desk beside him, and looked at one of the other shelves. The further down the shelf, the later the dates. He passed through them, seeing various names and different medicines. Reaper seemed to catalog everything, whether it was a medical check up for a member or it was logging a new serum he’d received into the system. He followed the tablets until he got to the last shelf. The first one on this shelf was dated to 2 years ago.

 

He decided to start at the end and work his way till he found the earliest record of Blockbuster. Halfway down the shelf he found the name  _ Park Kyung _ . It was strange that this old tablet would have his real name. He withdrew it and noticed the date. Two and a half years ago. 

 

The contents of this tablet would either hold the answers to all of Seungyoon’s questions regarding Blockbuster’s strange behavior, or it would give him nothing but more questions. He had to take the risk and he carefully started it up.

 

It took a moment to turn on, most likely not having been touched in a long time. It was a much older model of file tablet than the others, Reaper must have been holding onto it for awhile. The profile that appeared was similar to the others, but the information was different. 

 

_ Park Kyung, 23, ‘5”5 _

 

The numbers on his health stats were all different, but they meant next to nothing to Seungyoon and he skimmed over them until he got to the x-ray. Here he stopped and almost dropped the tablet.

 

In the photo, Blockbuster - no, Kyung’s body had none of the black, it was a like a usual human, but half of his body looked broken. The bones in his shoulder were clearly broken, his arm looked crushed almost. His head seemed to be dented in and the organs and tissue in his chest looked like they’d been ripped apart. He should have been dead.

 

There were notes beneath the photo and Seungyoon was almost afraid to read them, but he persisted. They were written in a very straightforward and informative way that was no doubt Reaper’s words.

 

_ Lieutenant Park sustained serious physical trauma due to an attack by a fellow officer, his injuries are not likely to take to my treatments. Further methods must be explored if Park is to survive. In my professional opinion, treatment is pointless, regardless of efforts, the only result is his death. _

 

_ In my personal opinion, there is one option. I will be discussing my further actions with my superior officers, let it be recorded here that I am addressing my superiors and should their decision not reflect an advancement towards my desired results... I will take matters into my own hands. My methods will include bio- _

 

“Snooping?”

 

Reaper’s voice almost made Seungyoon jump out of his skin. He gasped and dropped the tablet he was holding. He turned quickly, trying to stand in front of them, so Reaper couldn’t see what he’d been looking at. 

 

“I was just trying to find what you’d prescribed me last time. I wanted to get more and couldn’t remember the name,” they both knew he was lying but Seungyoon couldn’t see a version of this scenario where he told the truth.

 

“That salve should have lasted you two months. It’s barely been one,” Reaper’s eyes were narrowed. Gone was the tender doctor that Seungyoon had started to visualise him as, returned was the hardened cold soldier that he’d first met.

 

“I really liked it.”

 

“Next time, you may come directly to me.”

 

Seungyoon swallowed, trying to subtly kick the tablet on the floor underneath the desk. “Sure, will do. Thanks, doc,” he chuckled awkwardly. He wasn’t sure if Reaper was going to let him go easily, or even at all.

 

The doctor took a few steps closer and Seungyoon could feel sweat building on the back of his neck, he just had to maintain eye contact and not look too scared. He was sure he was failing at that last part. Reaper’s gaze was threatening and he was sure he could kill him in one blow, he was a doctor, he knew what was the most fatal injuries.

 

“Leave,” the man sneered.

 

Seungyoon had never walked so quickly in his life, as soon as he cleared the office, he broke into a run and reached the hallway in a matter of seconds. He was panting as he continued to run down the halls, until he was a good enough distance to stop and catch his breath.

 

What the hell did Reaper do to Park Kyung?

 

  * \- 



Z called them all over the intercom, there was a new mission and they were to meet in the briefing room. Seungyoon bumped into Blockbuster in the hallway on his way to the briefing and he jumped at first, but Blockbuster seemed so at ease, that he did his best to act normal as they walked together. When they got there, they realized they were the last to arrive, so Z started directly into the briefing.

 

“Alright, who here remembers this lovely weasel?” Z’s voice sounded slightly amused as he tapped his projector screen and a live feed of the man that he and Seungyoon had tortured a few weeks ago. Bomb wearing a prison suit in the feed, he was sitting in a cell, staring directly into the camera like a psychopath. Everyone shivered as soon as he appeared.

 

No one answered Z’s question as it was obviously rhetorical and required no answer, so he continued. “Lee Minhyuk, 28 years old, more commonly referred to as Bomb. He gave us crucial information in taking down Swallow, and now we’re going to use that information. Our next mission is in the Hybrid Galaxy, specifically the Cunan Provinces, it’ll take us a week to get there. Swallow has a KSA Senator encaptured at his base there, our mission is to rescue them.”

 

There were some disgruntled noises, no one here liked the KSA or their Senators, but they did have a job to do. Seungyoon felt his chest tighten, it was most likely someone his mother knew, so he felt he had to do good on this mission no matter what.

 

“Reaper, you’ll be working with Eomma to make sure everyone’s in pique physical condition, this mission will require maximum stealth and combat ability, it will not be easy. Blockbuster, you’re with Ponyboy on this one, I need all equipment up to par and I need new communications devices. The old inner-ears fall out when you run. 1AM, Rex, you’ll be directly with me on the recovery team, so stop snacking.”

 

The two soldiers chuckled and nudged each other here, but Z did not end here. “Mino, we need hand grenades, make sure we’re stocked. Joker, you’re backup, you’ll be on the ship, at the ready if we need you. Yooni, you’re our eyes and ears at the ship, make sure you’re familiar with the systems. I’ll have more instruction once we get there.”

 

Seungyoon frowned. Eyes and ears? He was a ground soldier, he always was. Why was he getting stuck with tech and not on the recovery team? As everyone started to disperse, Seungyoon approached Z carefully. The leader was already watching him, as if expecting him to complain.

 

“Sir, with all due respect-” he started, but was cut off.

 

“You’re not on the mission, Seungyoon,” Z immediately insisted, shaking his head. “That’s final.”

 

“But sir, you know I’m a soldier, I shouldn’t be up here!” Seungyoon protested.

 

Z stared him down, the look in his eye was unsettling, but he kept quiet for a moment. The others could sense an argument and so most of them shuffled out quickly, Rex having to all but drag Joker out. He loved a good fight.

 

As soon as they were alone in the room, Z placed a hand on Seungyoon’s arm and he cleared his throat. “Let me fill you in,” he said, his voice gentle. “Take a seat.”

 

Seungyoon did as he was told, eager to hear what excuse Z would have for pulling him off the team. It was such a foolish move, that Seungyoon couldn’t imagine what they could gain from him being up on the ship, running recon.

 

“You see, when we received notice about the mission, they also gave us some additional information,” he was clearly choosing his words carefully. “They sent a drone into the base, it flew in undetected. It’s really a prototype, but it managed to catch some footage of the inside operations of the base.”

 

Z took a deep breath and leaned against the table, his palms pressed together as he spoke. “The footage they recovered showed... Swallow’s men, they were uhh,” Z licked his lips. “They were torturing their captive. The injuries she sustained made it hard to get a good shot of her face, but they still were able to have another KSA member identify her.”

 

Seungyoon’s blood ran cold. Ice cold.  “No,” he whispered.

 

“It’s your mother, Seungyoon,” Z sighed, his expression tender as he reached out to grab Seungyoon’s arm again. “Swallow has your mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How'd you like it??   
> I always respond to comments, so I would LOVE some feedback and also any guesses/predictions any of you might have! Thank you for being patient with me and this story, I promise I'm trying to write as much as possible, but as you all know I have a terrible attention span. But I really hope I can get the next chapter out for you very soon! <3  
> You can find me on twitter @eaudelr or my main twt is @peridothui  
> Also my curiouscat is https://curiouscat.me/leehwi if you want to send anonymous questions/comments!! 
> 
> -Domi

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! This fic has been my brain child for several months and I haven't been able to give it as much love due to other stories, but over the past couple days, I've decided to just go headfirst into this one. So here you are. :)  
> Please love it~ and tell me what you think in the comments!
> 
> GLOSSARY:  
> 7382-NX: where seungyoon grew up/trained  
> KSA: Korean Space Authority
> 
> Blockbuster: Park Kyung  
> Eomma: Hakyeon  
> Joker: Yu Kwon
> 
> NOTE: the other members of the team are kind of secret, but I'll add them to the tags as they're revealed. Although you can probably guess some/most of them, haha.


End file.
